EmplawyerNet: LawPath Newsletter

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What Color Are Your Briefs?
Career Issues in the News
Career Counselor's Corner
Don't Do This
Practice Tips
Trivia
Lighter Side of Law
Resource of the Month

By William Seaton

Lawyers talk a lot about career satisfaction, often about the lack thereof. I am not sure if the malaise is more or less than for other professions, but it is sufficient in the field of law to make us pause and ask just what is career satisfaction, or how do you get it. After all, in the blizzard of billing hours, depositions and memos it is easy to lose sight of your individual ideals as well as the one we all have in common: the achievement of meaningful work balanced with our personal relationships and other interests.

I have often been asked to define career satisfaction. Like Justice Potter Stewart confronting a definitional riddle, I am tempted to say I know it when I see it. But, truth be told, I can go further than that. I know the elements of career satisfaction and wager that most people do, there being a kind of universal intuitional knowledge of the measure of happiness in what we otherwise call work. This knowledge is evident but evasive or, to quote another famous riddler: when the wind is southerly, I know a hawk from a handsaw.

The confounding thing is that I am at a loss as to how to instruct someone to achieve this nirvana. There are, I know, many who hold themselves out as guides, for a fee, in the navigation of this path. There are career counselors and coaches and, for the truly distressed, perhaps the psychotherapist. I neither endorse nor discount their services. I can only say that I am sure the best of them are the ones that simply accompany you to your own realizations.

The writer Mark Slouka, in a recent essay subtitled "On the Virtues of Idleness," describes himself as a "student of the narrowing margins," this referring to the increasingly small parts of our lives not devoted to work. While his essay has a somewhat broader message, he laments the lack of idleness as robbing us of moments of necessary reflection and contemplation. While for Slouka this reflection is the necessary ingredient in a democratic society, it struck me that this lack was, as well, a fundamental barrier to understanding career satisfaction or, more exactly, recognizing what makes for one's own career satisfaction.

You cannot have career satisfaction if all you have is career. Nor can you understand just what your particular formula is for balancing work, family, friends, civic responsibility, religious faith or any other of the hundreds of other potential interests whose mix will in the end define who you are, if you do not take time for the quiet work of self-reflection. All career satisfaction is made up of the same elements, just mixed in different measures. To understand your formula, you may need the perspective of idleness. It just might lead you to the real meaning of work.

WTO Moving to Opening Markets for International Lawyers
The World Trade Organization, of all things, is helping lawyers interested in breaking into foreign legal markets. Proposed provisions of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) could permit foreign lawyers to practice their home country law, international law and third country law outside their home jurisdictions. Most experts feel that there will be progress on home country law and international law but no change on the practice of the law of other countries. A related issue being addressed is partnerships between foreign and local lawyers. Legal services are among the most heavily regulated sectors in most countries but regulations are softening with the growth of the Internet and cross-border services. Some countries, such as Korea, are considering opening their legal markets for the first time in connection with GATS. To date, most negotiations on opening legal services to foreign lawyers have been done on a bi-lateral basis. GATS, however, is multilateral and could have significant impact for international lawyers. Some advocates hope for an arrangement allowing lawyers to establish a permanent presence in another WTO member nation and to eventually join the local bar after practicing there for a certain number of years

Florida Job Market Heats Up
Based on a survey of Florida law firms conducted by the Daily Business Review, the Florida legal job market is expected to grow by more than five percent this year. Of the law firm managing partners surveyed, 60 percent said they expect to see litigation as the fastest growing practice area, followed by corporate practice and real estate. More than 30 percent of the partners responding to the survey said they have plans to open new offices. Fifteen percent indicated they were considering acquisitions of other law firms, in and outside of Florida. Twenty-five percent of the firms surveyed said they expect their next group of associates to be bigger than the last year's group and 40 percent said they expect to raise associate salaries by more than five percent.

Filipinos Dropping Law for Nursing
The President of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines said Pilipino lawyers and law students are leaving the law and taking up nursing in order to land jobs abroad. He noted that studying law is not as challenging as studying medical courses, such as nursing. "While studying law," he said, "one can be working at daytime and go to school at nighttime. A degree in law, even if one does not pass the bar exam, is equivalent to a masters degree already." Only about twenty percent of the country's colleges and universities produce individuals who pass the bar exam. One university reported that half of its law students have shifted to nursing. Cited as reasons for the shift are that that law practice is not always lucrative and the draw of making more money working abroad. The Bar President said he did not expect there to be a shortage of lawyers in the Philippines.

Q: Dear Career Counselor:

I took the bar exam in July, and am waiting for my results. I would like to work at a small to midsize firm doing defense-oriented civil litigation but have had a very tough time getting a decent job. Either the firms tell me that they won't hire me until after I pass the bar, or they offer to pay as little as $10-$15 an hour until I pass the bar. Do you think it would be better to suspend my job search now, and wait until I get my bar results in November?

-- Lisa in Los Angeles

A: Dear Lisa,

There is no question that it can be more difficult to get a job before a firm knows that you have passed the bar. This is especially true in states such as California (and New York), where the bar passage rate is comparatively low. Some employers are understandably reluctant to assume the risk of hiring someone, only to find out that they haven't passed the bar.

Despite the frustrations you are currently experiencing, there are several reasons not to put your job search on hold until you get your bar results. First, it is generally easier to start a job search in October and November than in December. By the time you get sworn in, which in most jurisdictions takes place in mid-December, it will be harder to get hold of decision makers at firms. That means that if you stop searching now, you may effectively postpone your search until the beginning of next January. Second, as a recent grad, your biggest obstacle can be getting experience, and continuing to look for a job now at least gives you the opportunity to get additional experience now.

And then there is the matter of compensation. Your question suggests that some of the firms you have contacting are paying substantially less until they know you have passed the bar. Given that you are interested in civil litigation on the defense side, the fact that you haven't passed the bar poses relatively few restrictions on what you can do for a law firm. To be sure, you can't sign documents or make most court appearances until you have passed the bar, but, to name just a few of the valuable tasks you can perform now, you can draft briefs, motions, and discovery requests, conduct research, and review documents. Thus, at a minimum, I would make the case that the firm should pay you essentially the same rate that they pay to first year associates that have passed the bar. You might ask whether the billable hourly rate for these two groups substantially differs. By emphasizing what you can do for the firm now, you may able to negotiate a higher level of compensation. And if you decide to accept a lower rate of pay now, find out in advance (preferably in writing) what your compensation will be (including benefits) once you pass the bar exam. A firm that refuses to provide this information may be signaling that will take advantage of you.

In addition, make sure that you are ready to join the bar as soon as you pass the bar exam. In many jurisdictions, this means you need to have passed the MPRE, and the state bar has completed its moral character evaluation. The moral character evaluation can take time, so make sure you and your references have provided the bar association all the information they require. Finally, I hope you passed the bar exam, and good luck with your job search.

Career Counselor's Corner questions are answered by Gideon Grunfeld, President of Successful Career Strategies, Inc. (www.scslawcareers.com), which specializes in helping lawyers take control of their careers in and outside the practice of law. You can submit questions to Mr. Grunfeld at gideon@scslawcareers.com

One of the most common complaints among legal job seekers is that legal employers sometimes fail to show them common courtesy. In particular, firms sometimes do not make the effort to formally respond to your employment inquiry or, worse yet, fail to communicate after you have come in for an interview.

That may sometimes be true of firms that are not interested in you. At the same time, it is also true that law students and lawyers who decide they are not interested in a firm can be impolite. They might fail to respond to offer letters or return phone calls from recruiting coordinators. There are even cases of people not showing up for interviews because they have lost interest.

Even if you have written off a legal employer, always make the effort to communicate your intentions to the employer. If, after an interview, you know a firm is not the place for you, call or write to them and let them know. Save them the effort of trying to fit you into their hiring plans. If you don't reach that conclusion until after an offer has been made, be sure to respond as soon and as politely as possible to an offer or request for a call-back interview. It's common courtesy and it will also serve you well. Firms talk to each other. It's also possible that you will have a change in plans and need to reapproach a firm you have previously declined.

Friends and Family Clients

Most lawyers starting their careers are desperate to develop their own clients. At least during the first few years of practice, however, it's going to be a real challenge to reel in that big fish. Instead, you might end up starting with something smaller, namely, friends and family who have been waiting for you to finish law school so you can serve as their own personal lawyer.

Having a parent, a brother-in-law or a friend as a client can be problematic for a number of reasons. Problem One is money. Do you charge Mom and Dad for drafting their living trust? Do you happily do a few hours of pro bono research for a friend from high school? Do you barter legal services for something your friends and family can do for you?

There are probably no good answers to those questions because they will depend on the situation -- and the relationship. One possible middle ground that sometimes works well with friends is to give them a discounted billing rate. In other words, treat them like any other client and send them a monthly invoice that accounts for all the work you did on their behalf. Also note your usual hourly rate but then calculate in the "friends and family discount."

This approach works well because it prevents loved ones from feeling like they have free access to legal services and also lets them know they are getting a deal from you. Plus, when the relationship sours, as it surely will, as least you'll have a few bucks in your pocket to compensate for the loss of love and affection.

Which of the following Watergate figures were attorneys?

(a) Richard Nixon
(b) Spiro Agnew
(c) John Mitchell
(d) John Dean
(e) John Ehrlichman
(f) Charles Colson
(g) G. Gordon Liddy
(h) Donald Segretti

(answer at end of newsletter)

"Legal Eats: A Lawyer's Lite Cookbook" is a cookbook "by a lawyer for lawyers." It includes such recipes as Squash Subpoena Soup, Libelously Lite Strawberry Cheesecake, Common Law Corn Chowder and Prosecutor's Pizza. The author, a Georgia attorney, promises that a portion of her profits will go to legal services programs.

CyberSettle (www.cybersettle.com)
Tired of settling legal disputes the old fashioned way? Try doing it online with CyberSettle. Both parties submit a settlement amount and if they're both in the same ballpark, your case is settled.

Trivia answer: All of them.

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