I know I can always get a job somewhere like cleaning for another attorney, but even if I failed the bar exam, my law degree should still mean something right? I mean, I know we have many many Jds and PhDs walking around with no job, but I think going through 3 years of law school and passing all the hideous law school exams should still mean something... right?
a good article from wsj blog: “leverage” the “skill set” you gained from your legal education . . . outside the law profession?
A Call out for JDs, No Bar-Passage Required
Posted by Amir Efrati
helpwantedLooking to “leverage” the “skill set” you gained from your legal education . . . outside the law profession?
The above are snippets from a pitch making its way across second and third-tier law schools’ internal job Web sites, part of a so-called “JD Financial Advisor Initiative” by David Rizzo (Mass School of Law ’96), an agency sales director for Connecticut-based Barnum Financial Group, an office of MetLife.
Noticing a supply-demand imbalance in the legal profession (see a related WSJ story here), Rizzo says he started courting JDs fresh out of school, figuring the skills they learned – including tax and estate planning, and the IRAC approach to problems – would translate well in the fee-based financial planning field.
Rizzo, who started up Barnum’s Manhattan office in January, says over the last year he’s received 4,000 resumes from JDs primarily from lower-tier law schools such as New York Law School, St. John’s University and Hofstra University. Out of 15 financial advisors he’s hired for the new office, 12 of them are JDs.
Rizzo, who never practiced law after finding out during law school that “being a lawyer wasn’t all it was cracked up to be,” says many JDs tell him the job market is tough outside the big firms, where salaries often “can’t pay their bills.”
As a financial advisor, he says, “your law degree is respected by clients, you can earn an unlimited amount of money and there’s flexibility over what type of client you take on and how much time you want to spend.”
Matt Serventi, a St. John’s law school grad who passed the New York State bar exam last year, joined Barnum in March via Rizzo’s online job posting. “I wanted to get value out of my legal education but not by practicing law,” he says. Meanwhile, some of his friends who graduated with a lot of debt and practice law at private firms have moved back in with their parents.
Source:http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2007/10/03/...red/trackback/
law school tutor?
If you did well in law school but failed the bar exam anyway, maybe you can still be a pre-law or a law school tutor? They can actually make a lot of money!! The hour is flexible, and once you have established a good reputation, you can even start hosting seminars and stuff for about 60$ an hour, that is not a bad job at all!
to clarify what patricl stated, most reputable companies will not let you tutor without having passed the bar. I will not even look at applications for tutors with my company before the individual is liscensed. However, there might be something to tutoring/teaching pre law.
In addition, there are plenty of non legal jobs where having a JD would be a plus, you just have to decide what kind of job you want and spin your legal skills into a positive.
Source: www.lawtutors.net
Waiter. Cab driver.
I don't know on what evidence the previous poster bases the conclusion that there are plenty of jobs for non-admitted JDs, but I think the job market for both licensed and unlicensed attorneys SUCKS--unless, of course, you graduated from an Ivy League law school in the top 5% of your class and served as Law Review Editor.
I could be wrong. If so, please share your substantive job leads because I am looking for good ones as we speak....
I happen to work in human resources and many of my co-workers and colleagues have JDs (myself included). Some took the bar, practiced law and decided they hated it and got into HR and others, such as myself, never bothered to take the bar. All of us really love HR work, it is very diverse from recruiting to labor relations. Legal knowledge is definitely appreciated in the HR field as it comes into play all of the time. Anyway, an area to consider!
How about you just try to pass the bar exam? Have you already failed? If not, focus on passing, not worrying about what to do if you fail. If you have failed, TAKE IT AGAIN . . . you really can pass if you study the right way.
Please dont give up on the bar exam! I went through 5 years of hell after graduating and taking and failing several times in Texas (I went to law school in Florida 8-)). I was told by everyone I would never pass and that I had been out of law school too long. They were wrong! When I finaly decided it had to be me and bar exam materials only and focused and pushed any and everything else aside for three months like I shold have all those years ago...I finally passed! Also i teach at a Military base in the town I practice in and I did this even before i was licensed. Its called Park University check out jobs on the website. Please dont give up you went to law school to be an attorney and it took three years of hard work and dedication to make it through. You have what it takes to pass the bar exam and you will. Getting through the mental part of failing at somthing so many times was probably the hardest thing I had to overcome each time I decided to try again. Your smart or you wouldnt have a law degree take whats yours sign up and take the bar exam again and again until you pass!
Thank you for your positive comfort and give the bar candidate like myself a self confidence since I have been out of law school since 1998 and got a job in foreign country. Now come back and study for 07 bar exam. Please give me more feedbacks how I should study and ready.
I don't know how long ago this was posted but i want to thank you for those words of encouragement! I feel as if you were speaking right to me and your words made me stop and pay attention. Thank you!Originally Posted by loveforlaw
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