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SALT LAKE CITY -- How is the job market for attorneys fresh out of law school? In a word, miserable.
Utah State Bar Executive Director John Baldwin says, "It's as bad as it has been for the last 30 years."
Baldwin remembers graduating law school during a recession in the ‘80s. He says finding a job as an attorney was pretty tough, but it's nothing compared to the hardships law school grads face today.
It's as bad as it has been for the last 30 years.
–John Baldwin speaking on the market for new attorneys
Many entry level jobs are being outsourced. Clients are hesitant to pay brand new attorneys, so firms have drastically slowed down their hiring of recent law school grads. Plus, the new lawyers that are getting hired are being swamped with work.
"Where some firms would be hiring two or three [new attorneys], they're hiring maybe one and they're doing the work of two and three," Baldwin explains.
Some students report feeling misled by companies that appeared to be considering making a hire. Baldwin says it's painful to see stories of young lawyers saddled with high student loan debt and struggling to find work as an attorney after they went to a school they probably couldn't afford, thinking a degree from a well-known school was their golden ticket to a high paying job. But, he says too many people are forgetting that you can do more with a law degree than just practice law.
"There is probably not enough career guidance going on on what to do outside of law school and particularly what alternate uses there are for a law degree," Baldwin says.
Knowing how attorneys think, how laws are set up and how local ordinances work is a valuable asset for many different companies that aren't strictly in the legal field. He says many CEOs started in the legal department of a particular company then climbed up the management ranks.
"It becomes applicable in entry level jobs in human resource management and in management jobs," he says.
How can a law school grad find these jobs?
"The federal and state governments have postings regularly where sometimes law degrees are required, other times they might be helpful," Baldwin says.
E-mail: pnelson@ksl.com
