If you have excellent academic credentials, you may be able to land this gem....
http://washingtondc.
for 30K a year. Never mind that Fairfax, Virginia's median income is $107K a year.
or you can get a bump up to $35K at this Tyson's Corner Firm....
http://washingtondc.
but it will be kind of hard to afford an average home in the area at a whopping median cost of $487,150. I guess you'll have to live in your car.
But if you have 2 years of experience in residential conveyances, you can qualify to earn $40K in the Boston Area...
http://boston.craigslist.org/
That's not much when you are living in the 2nd most expensive city in the United States.
This firm in Dallas is very generous. You will start at $30K, but after a year of training... you will be bumped up to $40K.
http://dallas.craigslist.org/
How nice of them.
Or you can have fun in the sun in Miami at this job that pays $40K.
http://miami.craigslist.org/
I guess you won't be frequenting South Beach... it's a bit pricey.
And I hope you don't need to count on steady paycheck.... or benefits.. in Minneapolis.
http://minneapolis.craigslist.
at $150 to $200 per case... who knows if you'll be able to pay your rent every month???
And finally, this law firm offers great quality of life, boasting 9 to 5 hours for this position....
http://losangeles.craigslist.
At $10 to $15 an hour, this job is great for any Spanish or Armenian speaking Lawyer.
OR... you can just drop the JD off of your resume and apply to this job....
http://dallas.craigslist.org/
as a legal assistant in Dallas, you can make $65K. At least you may have a shot of paying back your student loans with this job.
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Angel, didn't you hear, all of us bloggers think we're entitled to $160k jobs. If only we were less greedy...by say $125k, we could all find jobs. Sure, to live in these cities, we need to double as lawyers and hobos, but we just need to learn to be flexible.
ReplyDeleteGreat post and research, Angel. And I agree with Esq. Never's facetious comment above. THIS IS THE REALITY OF ATTENDING LAW SCHOOL.
ReplyDeleteThe scary thing about your post is that the jobs listed above are probably extremely competitive to get. In my state I noticed a district court recorder (not a reporter) position advertised with a higher starting salary than most entry-level attorney salaries. The recorder needs a year of education post high school.
ReplyDeleteWhile it is painful beyond belief to see something as ridiculous as a legal assistant position offering a (much) better salary than most attorney positions, your finely honed reasoning machines (uh...your LS trained brains!) must be telling you that this should be in a Bizarro cartoon, right?
ReplyDeleteThis is a reverse "bubble" that WILL pop. Someone on one of these blogs... maybe EsqNever above, studied Econ, right? It costs X to become a legal assistant, and it costs 10X to become an attorney. Besides that, there are many more people qualified to be a legal assistant than an attorney.
However, as many of you have pointed out, the extreme debt load that many law graduates have are forcing them to accept artificially deflated salaries out of desperation, and word got out to all of the greedy hiring attorneys/firms out there. And, being fine capitalists, they're taking full advantage of it.
The bubble will pop, my friends. But, unfortunately, there may have to be a sacrifice by many current JDs (and future ones, like me). When more people drop that JD from their resume and take the legal assistant jobs and whatever other better paying jobs allow them to make ends meet (there WILL be other jobs in a year or two, but it's double whammy time for JDs now when unemployment and job creation suck overall), salaries will rise again.
Oh yeah...and it would help if some law schools would be shut down (yeah right!).
Damn, I just depressed myself.
ToBeAJD
Supply and demand, my friends. I say this as a long-ago bottom of the class law grad who has NEVER practiced, and yet I survived. btw - when looking at staring salaries, check out what law school librarians earn. We're talking 37k or so - and that's with a JD AND a masters'.
ReplyDeleteThe Minneapolis market is overcrowded and it doesn't help that there are four law schools in the area.
ReplyDeleteBoston is a very expensive city, and probably has the 3rd most expensive rents after NYC and SF, but your link concerns how expensive it is to rent a hotel room.
ReplyDeleteSHIT. I will fix that asap. I knew that it was 3rd most expensive in the country.. had a hard time finding an article duplicating my independent knowledge.
ReplyDeleteCmon. Those have to be fake?
ReplyDelete$20 an hour for a JD who has passed the bar.
Really ?
Yes, really. Why does it have to be fake? What do you think these jobs really pay?
ReplyDeleteThe true believers are the least likely to succeed at law. To be a good lawyer requires accepting and dealing with adverse facts, precedent, etc. Ironically the ones who can do it are the only ones realizing the profession is finished.