Top Law School Grad Sells Movies and Music On-Line From Parent's Basement!

I love mainstream press covering the Black Death of the Legal Profession... but they are so late to the Party. I cannot say it enough, people that decide to go to law school in the next few years are total idiots. Idiots!

Fabian Ronisky thought he was on track last summer to become a high-powered corporate lawyer. He was an intern at a leading firm in Los Angeles, earning about $3,000 weekly. But the firm didn't offer him a permanent job.

So Mr. Ronisky, a 25-year-old student at Chicago's Northwestern University School of Law, spent the fall sending 50 resumes to law firms and government agencies, to no avail. Now, just days shy of graduation and with $150,000 of student loans, he plans to move back to his parents' home in San Diego and sell music and movies online.

I really feel for this guy, because he didn't know this was coming when he was a 1L. Now the mainstream press has jumped on the story that I could have covered 5 years ago.

Part of the problem is supply and demand. Law-school enrollment has held steady in recent years while law firms, judges, the government and other employers have drastically cut hiring in the economic downturn.

Large corporate law firms have been hit particularly hard. The nation's 100 highest-grossing corporate firms last year reported an average revenue decline of 3.4%, the first overall drop in more than 20 years, according to the May issue of The American Lawyer magazine.

I am wondering what the 3.4% decline in revenue would have been if they hadn't fired so many associates? Anyone venture to guess?


I think that the whole model has been screwed for many years. People/Lawyers have always focused on landing that big firm associate position right after law school. What no one ever talks about, and what was always true regardless of the economy, is that one's days are numbered when working for BigLaw. It's just a matter of time before it's obvious that MOST of the associates are not "Partner Material" and they have to go on their merry way to other pursuits. Many of these pursuits are not nearly as profitable as BigLaw--non-profits and government positions, mostly. So many of these BigLaw associates never see it coming either, so they live high on the horse and DO NOT make headway on their loans. They don't see the end of the tracks for the gravy train, and they have to downsize drastically when it stops. This is when things were good. The reason for all of this? There has always been an overabundance of attorneys--at least since the dot.com bubble burst and maybe before--so it's always been a wiser economic choice to hire in a new flock of attorneys than pay the older ones more.
So, that's reality in a nutshell.

Racist Harvard Law Student Needs a History Lesson (Updated)

Those of you who read Above the Law or other law school scam sites have probably read about the Harvard Law School 3L who made this racist and sexist statement in an email that went viral:

I absolutely do not rule out the possibility that African Americans are, on average, genetically predisposed to be less intelligent. I could also obviously be convinced that by controlling for the right variables, we would see that they are, in fact, as intelligent as white people under the same circumstances. The fact is, some things are genetic. African Americans tend to have darker skin. Irish people are more likely to have red hair. (Now on to the more controversial:) Women tend to perform less well in math due at least in part to prenatal levels of testosterone, which also account for variations in mathematics performance within genders. This suggests to me that some part of intelligence is genetic, just like identical twins raised apart tend to have very similar IQs and just like I think my babies will be geniuses and beautiful individuals whether I raise them or give them to an orphanage in Nigeria. I don’t think it is that controversial of an opinion to say I think it is at least possible that African Americans are less intelligent on a genetic level, and I didn’t mean to shy away from that opinion at dinner.

I've read comments on other sites from people who are rightfully outraged and offended by this email. Let's not kid ourselves, whoever this person is got into Harvard for a reason and would fit right in Biglaw or another white-shoe firm. I've come across a fair amount of arrogant and tactless bigots and chauvinists in the law, so despite how it disgusts me to read these comments, I can't say I'm terribly surprised. The world of Mad Men still exists to a lesser extent only because people like the Harvard 3L face certain repercussions for being blunt about their real feelings about minorities and (other) women. She'll still have a much better chance of getting a six-figure job most of us so don't think this email going viral will in any way ruin her life in the privileged, upper class, and extremely narrow-minded world that ensured her a spot at Harvard. I'm fairly certain her admittance into Harvard had very little to do with her intelligence or world view.

Speaking of racism and sexism, I think it is important to remember those who have proven people like the Harvard 3L wrong time and again throughout history rather than focus on one ignorant Ivy League law student. One of those people is Dorothy Height who died last week at the age of 98. She was the president of the National Council of Negro Women for 41 years and fought against what she had called the "triple bind of racism, sexism and poverty" her entire life:

Eleanor Smeal, president of the Feminist Majority Foundation, told The Times in an interview, "Dorothy understood from the beginning the importance of both the civil rights movement and the women's rights movement and how they're intertwined. She's always tried to keep people together and united."

The daughter of a nurse and a building contractor, Height was born March 24, 1912, in Richmond, Va., and grew up in Rankin, Pa., where she earned top grades in school.

After graduating from high school at 16, she was accepted to Barnard College in New York but was told she had to delay her entrance a year because the school had met its annual quota of two African American students.

Instead she entered New York University, which had no such quota. In four years she earned bachelor's and master's degrees in social work.

...

Under her leadership, the National Council of Negro Women offered job training, set up a school breakfast program in Mississippi, registered voters and pushed to ensure that African Americans were included in the census. In the 1980s, Height also led African American Women for Reproductive Rights, an abortion rights group.
....
Height retired from the YWCA in 1977 but continued to lead the National Council of Negro Women for two more decades. The council celebrated Height's birthday every year with an "Uncommon Height" gala fundraiser.

On her 90th birthday in 2002, well-wishers such as Oprah Winfrey and boxing promoter Don King helped raise $5million, enough to pay off the mortgage on the organization's national headquarters on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington.

In 2004, President Bush awarded Height the Congressional Gold Medal for her many decades of service. Inscribed on the medal is a classic Height quote: "We African American women seldom do just what we want to do, but always do what we have to do. I am grateful to have been in a time and place where I could be a part of what was needed."

UPDATE: H/T to the Jobless Juris Doctor for the update. Gawker has exposed the Harvard 3L as Stephanie Grace. She graduated from Princeton in 2007 with a degree in Sociology, is on Harvard Law Review, and will clerk for Ninth Circuit Judge Alex Kozinski, also known as the cow porn judge. More proof that idiots can get into Ivy League schools and have a successful legal career. Oh, what a world we live in.

Question About The National Law Journal's Annual Rankings

Maybe I've been really naive but I'm a bit confused by The National Law Journal's annual rankings based on the percentage of grads who landed first year BigLaw jobs:

Here are the Top 10 in the NLJ ranking followed by the percentage of grads who landed first-year positions at the nation’s largest firms.

1. Northwestern University School of Law - 55.9 percent
2. Columbia Law School - 54.4 percent
3. Stanford Law School - 54.1 percent
4. University of Chicago Law School – 53.1 percent
5. University of Virginia School of Law – 52.8 percent
6. University of Michigan Law School – 51 percent
7. University of Pennsylvania Law School - 50.8 percent
8. New York University School of Law – 50.1
9. UC Berkeley School of Law – 50 percent
10. Duke Law School - 49.8 percent

Harvard and Yale failed to crack the top 10 but I'm guessing that's because a lot of their grads take clerkships and government jobs. My question is: Really? Only 55.9% for the "top law school"? When I applied to law school, the T14 schools made it seem like at least 75% or more of their graduates ended up in BigLaw while the rest went onto really prestigious government and public interest jobs or clerkships. I think I even read at a T14 website while applying that 99% of graduates went onto biglaw jobs or clerkships. Even though the schools above can boast more than the vast majority of law schools out there, I think that even the top schools have been guilty of false advertising and stretching their numbers. From these numbers it looks to me that students at the top 10 schools listed above are still vulnerable to unemployment if they aren't in the top 50% of their class. Am I missing something here? What do you think?

UPDATE: The Jobless Juris Doctor alerts us to a Harvard Law School newspaper article about many Harvard 3Ls not getting job offers. It looks like the T14 is indeed no longer safe after all.

A Lesson in Education

An unemployed law school friend (who, btw, graduated from my T14
cum laude) forwarded me this Above The Law story about a T14 graduate who got a high-profile and well-paid government job through -how else? - connections:

Fenster, a 29-year-old lawyer who previously worked for a short time at Stroock & Stroock & Lavan, was recently selected by Governor David Paterson to serve as executive director of the Workers’ Compensation Board of New York State.

The article notes that Fenster got the job despite having "no experience in workers' comp or labor law". So how did he get this coveted position after being laid off from his biglaw job last year? Via Inside Workers Comp NY:

I have received a number of communications indicating that Fenster got his resume submitted for this position with the help of an old college buddy from the University of Michigan, Debra Feinberg, and their mutual friend, Stephen Levin. Levin, who ran successfully for City Council from Brooklyn this past November was former Chief of Staff to Assemblyman Vito Lopez, who happens to be the chairman of the Brooklyn Democratic Party. Feinberg, who was a legislative aide to Assemblyman Lopez, was the campaign manager for Levin.

Lopez’s need to place somebody in a job came up at the same time there was a vacancy at the Workers Comp Board for a “short-timer” as everybody understands that come the first month or two of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s administration, this job will be filled with someone with real experience.

This is consistent with what we’ve heard here at ATL, in comments and by private emails. We’ve also heard that Debra Feinberg may be more than just Fenster’s “buddy.” From an ATL tipster:

[Fenster’s] girlfriend, Debby Feinberg, works as a Democratic operative in Brooklyn. People don’t just get that type of position by submitting their resume [as Fenster seemed to suggest to the NYT]. Jeff is a good guy and was a reasonably decent student at Michigan, but it was a classic case of “it’s not what you know but who you know.”

I'm not posting this story to bash Mr. Fenster and the method in which he secured an amazing job. Kudos to him. This is simply a reminder to readers that oftentimes doing everything right isn't enough to get the job. Nepotism is a tale as old as time. It happens during good economic times as well as bad and it is still the single most important factor in getting a job. It is how the world's elite and their friends and family keep their hands on the reigns of wealth and power.

I wrote in my inaugural post yesterday about the education myth - that it does not guarantee more wealth and success. Graduates of Tier 2 and 3 law schools know this all too well. I'd like to make an addendum to that statement. Education helps the children of those already in power have a better chance at more wealth and success. The fact that the majority of the students you find at T14 law schools come from upper middle class and wealthy backgrounds is not a mistake. Angel and I come from working class backgrounds. We are an anomaly in the halls of T14 schools and biglaw. This, wherein lies the problem for many of our readers.

Higher education - from rankings to admissions - is a system that for the most part benefits the ruling class. If you're poor or middle class it is often a lose-lose situation. Poor children usually don't receive a quality high school education and don't have the money for test prep courses to make them competitive candidates for the best colleges let alone the best law schools. The brightest of the poor students often turn down opportunities to attend better schools because they can't afford the high tuition. They certainly don't have the connections to get the best jobs after graduation - or any job during a recession. Poor students will nearly always take the greatest risk in investing in a costly yet lower-ranked education. They're damned if they do and they're damned if they don't. Which is why more people are beginning to understand that apprenticeships in a trade such as plumbing might be a better route for working class children. Construction and plumbing pays well and it is a more realistic expectation than, say, becoming the executive director of the Workers’ Compensation Board of New York State. We now know those jobs are off limits to applicants without the right connections.

More from the Above the Law article:

Almost all of the folks we’ve met who have been lucky enough to land legal jobs during the Great Recession did so through networking or connections. This is true not just for people who have found jobs at, say, small law firms, but even some lawyers we now who found jobs with the federal government. It’s helpful to have a friend “on the inside” at a government agency, who can let you know immediately when a position opens up — sometimes even before it’s publicly posted — and who can bring your application to the attention of the hiring authority.

Some of you might not like the role that connections play in the job hunt, since it’s not exactly a pure meritocracy. But it’s the way the world works. So get used to it — and order up some business cards for yourself (even if you’re currently “in transition” / unemployed, or just a law student; you can put your personal contact info on your cards).

True. It is certainly how the world works. But how does a law school grad from Podunk, USA "network"? It isn't so easy for a person who went to school on merit but does not possess the family connections, a boyfriend, or a girlfriend in a position of influence and power to simply network to get a job. Angel and I could go to a hundred networking events and short of marrying a partner or politician, I doubt either of us would come away with a job offer. The job almost always still goes to a friend, a friend of a friend, a daughter, a son, a neighbor's child, a member of their church, temple, alma mater, or boarding school. In short, the job goes to someone who belongs in their social class, their community, their neighborhood, their world. The terms networking and connections are used by people who already have an "in" with a personal link. This recession has taught the poor a lesson in education: it is directly tied to wealth and privilege and no amount of it will put you on the same playing field as someone with a connection.

A View From the Trenches by Hardknocks, a Guest Blogger!

A friend from college decided on a whim to apply to law school after being unemployed for over a year. She's received several acceptances to tier 1 and tier 2 law schools. Remember that excitement you felt when receiving that huge package in the mail from your law school of choice? I was a senior in college and the first acceptance I received was from a T14 law school. I was on the verge of tears standing in the hallway of my residence hall as I ripped open the thick brown envelope, eagerly opening the glossy brochures about public interest and study abroad programs and making the world a better place with my JD. I believed that this would be my ticket to a lucrative and rewarding career serving the public interest.

HAHAHAHAHA. Oh boy, was I naive.

Nearly five years later my friend is excited about her admittance into a lower tier 1 program and all I can feel is concern about her actual career prospects upon graduation in 2013. How can someone who has never held a full-time job after college, has a significant unemployment gap, and goes to a law school not even in the top 20 expect to be marketable in our new economy? And who are the people working in our universities and colleges who perpetuate the myth to 45,000 students each year that going to law school - any law school - will make their job search any easier?

My career service counselor in college never mentioned the debt and the risks of attending law school. She just looked at my social science major and my grades then asked me what I wanted to do with my life (a questions surely any 22-year-old should know the answer to). I mentioned that I liked politics and may want to do non-profit work or become a lawyer. Her next suggestions was that I take the LSAT as if that was the natural step any poli sci, English lit, philosophy, or history major should take if they haven't a clue what to do with their life. No one at any university of law school will ever tell you that a JD, rather than being a versatile degree, on the contrary could harm your chances of employment as Esq. Never has written about over the last year.

You see, university employees aren't paid to tell students the truth or discourage them from more education. They are paid to promote the myth that education undoubtedly leads to success, money, and happiness. All too often students come to the dangerous conclusion that the more education you buy the more success, money, and happiness you will achieve in life. Only until recently has this longtime myth been debunked. The Law School Scam movement and websites such as this one affiliated with the movement remain the only sources of truth on the internet for the majority of college students who won't attend Harvard, Yale, and Stanford Law School. Slowly but surely, more students who are coming out of years of formal education - some at the most elite institutions in the world - only to be confronted with six-figure debt and no job prospects are coming forward to tell their tale. I predict many more will come forward in the coming years as law school applicants rise and job creation in the U.S. remains stagnant amongst unprecedented unemployment. Now more than ever, the truth needs to be told about the risks, the debt, and the ABA rat bastards who continue to accredit criminals to steal more money from America's youth.

I commented at the incomparable Big Debt, Small Law (if you don't have BDSL bookmarked do it now) that despite attending a T14 school, a significant amount of my former law school classmates have been laid off from Biglaw less than a year out of law school. Some of these brilliant minds who Did Everything Right! will almost certainly never be hired into Biglaw again. Well, there goes three years and $150,000 down the drain! Biglaw and the ABA will always have an endless supply of fresh meat and those who don't make the cut due to grades, LSAT scores, or sheer bad luck during an economic downturn will be tossed aside like yesterday's leftovers. The TTT institutions will continue to grow and more students will be conned until we stop them with truth and testimony from as many law school grads as possible.

I can only reiterate what I wrote at Big Debt to my friend and others like her that they need to walk into law school with knowledge of the risks and the very high probability that they will be among the sweatshop temp workers in the basements of BigLaw, a very different reality from the dreams we all had going into our first law school lecture. Law students who aren't at the top of their class need to be warned about continuing their legal education and going further into debt with their fate already confined to $10/hour Craigslist law firms. My classmates, who frequented Above the Law to laugh at the sweatshop TTT grads, are now working alongside them to survive. The legal field, like the US economy, will never be the same again. No one is safe.