seeking advice from lawyer for law student

[historian]

my daughter has just finished her first year at northwestern and is being offered jobs by large firms such as skadden, fullbright and so on. She never expected to receive so many offers from so many prestigious firms and is now thoroughly confused. Can anyone here offer any advice as to what she should look for? Salary is not a consideration since they all offer the same. Thanks

[Sanity Claws]

1. Something doesn't sound right here

Offers for what? A job for the summer after second year?
I graduated from Columbia back in 1981. Maybe things are done differently now but interviews for summer jobs after second year start around now. The firms don't extend offers until they've gone around to the various law schools and then decide who they'll hire for the finite number of positions they have.
The hiring is extremely competitive, even for people in schools which are ranked higher than Northwest. Unless she can tap dance on water while accessing Westlaw on her laptop, she may have at the most one or two offers to choose from.

[historian]

2. thanks

Well actually she has 6 offers from large prestigious firms for summer associate (2nd yr). She had an average gpa of 3.4 and is amazed at the offers she is receiving. But she is concerned about her choice. What do you think she should look for in a firm? Is prestige the only thing which counts down the road for her career.

[Raven]

5. Well, here is the sad truth...

and I am speaking as someone who started at a big law firm in Boston and then founded my own firm. Your daughter should pick the firm with the best creds for her summer job. She will be wined and dined and everyone will make nice and it will seem as if she died and went to heaven. It is all bullshit, an act. These places are sweat shops and if they hire her after law school, they will wring her dry. If she has any hopes of getting married and having kids and keeping on a partnership track at one of these big factories, she will be disappointed. She also will have trouble being mentored which is the most important thing for a new lawyer...they don't teach you how to practice law in law school.

If she were my daughter, I would tell her to take a summer offer from a prestige firm, make the most of it, even take an offer from them after graduation, but to plan her moves carefully. She will have the credentials and she can write her own ticket after that. Also, with the big bucks they pay, she can pay off some of the school debt she undoubtable has.

Been there, done that, the wiser for it!

[historian]

6. thank you so much

Thanks for the sound advice. Its much appreciated. Now if i can only knock it into her head...?

[no_hypocrisy]

3. First, congratulations to your daughter for completing her first year of law school.

I've always worked for small firms.

My thoughts are these:

1. Your daughter needs to go to a firm that will train her to be an attorney. I cannot stress this enough. Not just hire her and let her figure out by herself which form needs to be filled out or the priority of things to be done. Let her be a protegee for a little while with supervision.

2. Firms with a name are good on a resume but also can kill you as far as hours required (60 per week at the very least and week-ends). She needs to consider what she is willing to compromise on and/or give up.

3. What are her chances of being made a partner after a certain number of years with the firm?

4. Will she be happy there? The money means nothing if you are miserable, and trust me, if the partners don't make you miserable, the clients will.

5. Please tell her to try to talk to others who work at the firms she's considering and get their overall opinions.

I hope this helps a little bit.

[historian]

4. thank you so much

thanks for the advice. It sounds fairly similar to what ive been telling her but she is young and i think this has gone to her head. You are quite right though and ill pass this onto her. Actually i favor the firm of jaworski and fullbright because they value integrity above all else and are constantly calling her to consider them. Under these conditions i think she has found a mentor. Thanks again.

[no_hypocrisy]

8. You're quite welcome.

I've worked for four firms since being certified, and NONE have taught me very much if at all on how to practice law. I've had to learn by my own mistakes and the self-doubt just eats you up. I don't want to see your daughter in my situation.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

7. Raven offers excellent advice.

The big, prestigious firms will treat their summer associates like royalty. But once they graduate and are hired on as full-time lawyers, it's a whole 'nother thing. Those big firms can be sweatshops; you can take that from someone who learned the hard way. I remember sitting in the firm library one beautiful summer Sunday doing junior lawyer grunt work (trying to answer interrogatories in some tedious commercial litigation case, as I recall). And I remember having a kind of epiphany, realizing that this was NOT what I worked so hard in law school to end up doing.

She should certainly accept one of those offers, but while she is being wined and dined and courted she should be sure to try to find out what real life for the permanent employees is like after graduation.

I eventually got out of law altogether after 17 years, changed careers for something a little less intense.

[Midlodemocrat]

9. I second Raven's advice. She knows of what she speaks.

Her experience reflects a great deal of my colleagues as well.

[wellstone dem]

10. I echo those above

who say these big firms will wine and dine, it's a summer day camp for their associates, and then they take everything from them when they hire them. My boss who worked for a wall street firm for a while describes the work as "soul deadening." That said, I'd suggest she take a look at the "pro bono" (charity work) done by the firms and go for the one with the best program. There is at least some hope they have integrity. Skadden sponsors some great fellowships for new lawyers with Legal Aid, but that's all I know about the firms indicated. It does seem early to have these offers. My Nephew has pretty close to a 4.0 at the University of Minnesota and he is just interviewing next week.