Archives for the Month of October 2007 on CSO Blog
Thomson West Internship and Career Presentation
Are you interested in learning more about legal internships and alternative legal careers at Thomson West? Representatives from Thomson West will be discussing the Content Legal Internship Program and alternative legal careers with the company on Wednesday, Nov. 7 at noon. Come listen to representatives discuss opportunities available to students and graduates. See the attached flyer for additional information.
When: Wednesday, November 7 at 12:00 pm
Where: Room A57
Lunch will be provided!
Interested in Politics? Lobbying?
Have you ever thought about the possibility of a career in politics? Does a career as a lobbyist pique your interest? If so, you'll want to check out the new Politics & Lobbying binder in the CSO. We've gathered plenty of useful information for anyone slightly interested in what a career in politics or lobbying is all about. The binder includes information on various political and lobbying organizations, internet resources and website information for your job search, a sampling of some opportunities available in politics and lobbying, relevant articles, and much more! Please make an appointment to speak with a CSO counselor for additional information on careers in politics and lobbying.
Long-Distance Job Hunting
Are you looking for a job somewhere other than Cleveland or your own hometown? If you are, then you probably already know that these job searches require a slightly different approach than a local job search.
The first thing you need to determine in your long-distance job hunt is your “why”. Why do you want to work in that city or in that state? Knowing the answer to this question will help you focus your job search and, eventually, will allow you to give a clear and honest answer to the question during your interviews in that city or state. Also, if the city or state is unfamiliar to you, do your research to determine whether you really do want to relocate and establish a career there. A potential employer in that city won’t want to read in a cover letter or hear in an interview, “I’m considering the possibility of moving to San Francisco.” Before you contact an employer regarding a job opportunity, you need to have decided that you want to live in that city. To help you decide, research the city, state, and region online; contact the state tourism department to be sent a tourism guide; and check out apartment and real estate websites to learn more about the housing market.
Once you’ve settled on a location, the next thing you’ll need to do is find resources. The CSO should be your first stop. As mentioned in this blog, the CSO is continually conducting employer outreach to develop relationships and, in many instances, job opportunities with employers in cities all over the country. (Stop by the CSO bulletin board to see a map of every city we’ve visited in the past three years.) We also have city guides and firm listings for many of the most popular destinations for students and recent grads. Set up an appointment with a counselor to help you get started in finding potential employers and in contacting alumni in your target city for informational interviews.
Outside the CSO, look into resources in your target city. Join the local bar association, start reading the local paper online, and network with local attorneys. Plan a trip to your destination city. And, perhaps most importantly, let networking contacts and potential employers know that you will be in town and would appreciate the opportunity of meeting with them face-to-face. Plan ahead and set up as many networking appointments and interviews as you can.
These are just a few suggestions to help you get started; be sure to set up an appointment with a counselor to discuss other options.
1L CSO Orientation Sessions
Starting on Thursday, November 1, the CSO will hold mandatory 1L Orientation sessions. Please review the schedule below as each firm is assigned to a specific day and time.
Information covered will include:
- Opportunities available to 1Ls
- Resources to use when looking for a job
- Fellowships and stipends
- Symplicity training
Here is the schedule:
Thursday, Nov. 1
10:30 – 11:30 am, Room A57: Advocates (Firms A, B, C, D)
1:15 – 2:15 pm, Room A57: Counselors (Firms Q, R, U, V)
4:00 - 5:00 pm, Room A58: Barristers (Firms I, J, K, L)
Friday, Nov. 2
9:30 – 10:30 am, Room 157: Barristers (Firms M, N, O, P)
10:45 - 11:45 am, Room 157: Advocates (Firms E, F, G, H)
12:00 -1:00 pm, Room A57: Counselors (Firms S, T, W, X)
** Please bring your laptop to your assigned session! **
For those students scheduled at noon, please feel free to bring your lunch to the session. And as a thank you for your cooperation with scheduling, we will be raffling off door prizes at the end of each orientation session. Be sure to attend your assigned session to be entered!
Have questions? Feel free to contact Kelli Curtis is the CSO!
NALP Travel Reimbursement - Public Interest Option
We know that most of you have at least some and in many cases alot of debt. But just in case you are in a position to support a public interest program, we wanted to be sure that you were aware of an opportunity to "give back." If you are interviewing with NALP employers, you know that NALP employers will reimburse reasonable travel-related expenses which you incur during your interviewing trip(s). The NALP Travel Expense Reimbursement Form, available at
http://www.nalp.org/content/index.php?pid=68, allows you to ask the employer to donate hotel or other expenses to a public interest program -- all you have to do is attach a program description and payment procedures to your NALP form.
Again, we know that most if not all of you need to be reimbursed for these expenses, but this may be an option for some of you.
Interested in the Southeast? Consider North Carolina.
Do you have interest in sophisticated transactional work, but not sure if New York City is where you want to live? Do you have family ties in the southeast, but don’t know much about legal opportunities in the area? Interested in banking and finance, corporate law, health law, technology issues, or state government? You may want to consider focusing your job search on Charlotte and/or Raleigh, North Carolina – two cities the CSO visited last week.
Charlotte, which was repeatedly described to the CSO as a “melting pot” of people originally from different areas of the country, was a particularly interesting legal market. Given the presence of the banking and finance industry in the city, many law firms have established growing Charlotte offices where attorneys have the opportunity to work on large, complex transactions. Charlotte is one of the biggest banking cities in the United States (after New York City) and one partner the CSO met with described working in Charlotte as the opportunity to have a “Wall Street practice in North Carolina.” And Charlotte generally appears to welcome newcomers – recently, people have been moving to Charlotte from all over the country, making it one of the fastest growing cities in the United States.
Raleigh, on the other hand, is a smaller legal market, but serves as North Carolina’s capital and therefore has numerous state government opportunities. Downtown Raleigh appears to be growing and legal employers there appear to be growing too – some well known law firms have established offices in Raleigh or Research Triangle Park. It also seems there are a few legal employers in Raleigh with growing health care practice areas. Located within the Research Triangle, Raleigh is also home to many people interested in technology issues.
Overall, the CSO’s visit to Charlotte and Raleigh uncovered legal employers willing to consider Case Western Reserve students who have a genuine interest in settling in North Carolina. Of course, there are already five accredited law schools within North Carolina itself so employers in Charlotte and Raleigh were concerned about finding students with a specific tie to North Carolina. For some employers, however this tie could be something as simple as undergraduate experience in the region or friends in the area and a genuine intent to settle and stay in North Carolina.
The list of employers the CSO met with is posted on our bulletin board. Stop by and take a look and if you have specific questions about any of these employers, schedule a meeting with a counselor.
Hiring Partners and Recruiters Tell It Like It Is
Everyone agrees that interviewing is a necessary, but stressful process. Fred Cohn, a writer for Jungle Law, interviewed four hiring partners and recruiters to find out what it really is that they are looking for in a successful candidate. I've highlighted a few notable answers below.
What's the first thing you look for when a candidate walks into the room?
"We want to find out if they have a sincere interest in our law firm, and in the particular office where the interview is taking place... It's also important that they have a good personality, a good sense of humor, and that they're outgoing. Lawyers are in the business of advocating for their clients, so we look for individuals who will be good advocates." Michael R. Gordon, Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham
"We look for indicators of confidence, poise, intelligence." Rod Miller, Weil, Gotshal & Manges
What's the best thing a candidate can do to make a good impression?
"Information still rules. The more you know about the company, the more it will distinguish you from other candidates." Karyn Thomas, Arent Fox
What are your turn off's?
"It you don't make good eye contact or have good posture, it leaves a bad impression with the interviewer." Rod Miller, Weil, Gotshal & Manges
"I try to elicit the reasons a student has for coming to a particular location of our firm. We want people to show up for our summer program because they're interested, not just because they're dating someone in the city." Matthew Gorson, Greenberg Traurig
"If a writing sample has typos, that's a bad sign." Michael R. Gordon, Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham
To read the full article, click here.
Diversity in law firms – percentages of women and minorities still climbing
NALP has recently released their newest demographic information from the NALP Directory of Legal Employers, and numbers were up across the board for women and minorities. The percentage of women partners is up from 17.90% in 2006 to 18.34% in 2007. The percentage of minority partners increased at almost the same rate, up from 5.00% in 2006 to 5.40% in 2007. The numbers also show increases at the associate level. Among associates, 45.06% were women and 18.07% were minorities, compared with 44.33% and 8.18% in 2006. The findings include more than 135,000 lawyers in 1,562 offices, and over 12,000 summer associates in 1,171 offices. The full report is available on the NALP website at www.nalp.org/content/index.php?pid=544.
Mind Your Manners: Why Etiquette Matters to Employers
Are you up to date on your rules of etiquette? If not, you might want to refresh your memory. Believe it or not, more than a few of the employers that the CSO has met with in the past few months have highlighted basic etiquette skills as something they are looking for (and not always finding) when hiring. And they’re not just talking about saying please and sending thank you notes!
Employers want to know that the people they hire are capable of handling client meetings, business lunches, and everyday office interactions. To determine whether you are capable of doing these things professionally, employers consider a number of factors, regardless of whether you’re sitting across the desk at a traditional interview or sitting across the lunch table at a lunch interview. Employers look to see whether you are dressed professionally, whether you’ve been polite to absolutely everyone who you’ve met while on your interview, whether you’ve turned off your cell phone, and, yes, even whether you know which water glass is yours at the business lunch table and which water glass is your neighbor’s. (Hint: bread plate is always on the left; water glass is always on the right.)
So that recruiting cocktail party or call back interview lunch you’ve been invited to? Think of it as the perfect opportunity for a potential employer to evaluate your ability to remain professional in different environments. It is still part of the interview and employers are expecting you to remain polite, respectful, and professional.
If you have questions about etiquette in these or other situations, stop by the CSO to talk with a counselor about the resources you can use to brush up your skills!
Are Lawyers Satisfied with their Profession?
Have you seen the October 2007 edition of the ABA Journal? The Pulse of the Legal Profession survey responses are out, and respondents expressed their views on a wide variety of issues. Some interesting results are highlighted below. To read the article, please stop by the CSO Resource Library.
* 44% of all respondents would recommend a legal career to a young person (interestingly, 57% of respondents who have been practicing for less than 3 years would do so, but only 42% of those practicing for 10 years or more would).
* 79% of nonwhite and 80% of white respondents reported that they are proud to be an attorney.
* 55% of respondents are satisfied with their career. Of note, 68% of public sector lawyers are satisfied with their careers, but only 44% of large firm lawyers are.
* 81% find the practice of law to be intellectually stimulating.
* 69% of respondents reported they believe lawyers have become less civil to each other over time (and 74% of lawyers who have practiced 10 years or more feel this way).
Health Law Career Panel - Wednesday, 10/17
Be sure to check out the final event of Health Law Week! The Health Law Career Panel will take place Wednesday at noon in Room 158. Don’t miss this opportunity to hear health law attorneys discuss their practice and experience in the health law field. This event is open to all classes (including 1Ls)!
The panel will include health law attorneys from the Benesch Friedlander, the City of Cleveland Department of Law, the Legal Aid Society of Cleveland, Walter & Haverfield, and University Hospital.
Pizza will be served! The CSO looks forward to seeing you there!
Students Grade Firms on Diversity
Building on last Friday's blog about finding the right law firm for you, there is a new resource to check out when deciding which law firm is the right fit!
A group of law students, calling themselves "Law Students Building a Better Legal Profession," have decided to turn the tables a bit on law firms. The group has created a website and blog grading top law firms on the basis of diversity, pro bono and billable hours. According to members, their purpose is simply to give law students an easy way to compare top law firms based on more than just salary information. They are dedicated to the idea that practicing law does not mean giving up a commitment to family, community and dedicated service to clients. Law firms are graded in the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, New York, Boston and Washington D.C. areas with data taken from NALP. Be sure to check it out!
CSO Welcomes Assistant Director Heather Day DiFranco
Please join the CSO in welcoming Heather Day DiFranco as the Assistant Director of Career Services. Among her other duties, Heather will counsel both students and alumni, assist with program planning and implementation, and oversee the reciprocity process. Heather worked for five years as a Senior Attorney Editor at Thomson/West before joining the CSO. She also previously practiced family law and school law in Columbus, Ohio. Please feel free to stop by the CSO to meet Heather!
Finding the Right Firm… For YOU
For those of you concentrating your search on law firms, you might be finding yourself wondering the best ways to differentiate one firm from another. Perhaps you’ve looked at each firm’s size, practice areas, and rankings and now find yourself with a lengthy list of firms that look all very similar to each other. How do you determine where you should focus your job search efforts?
All law firms, like all law students, have unique personalities and characteristics. In sorting through your options, determine the things that are most important to you in your work experience. Then do some research to find which firms best match what’s important to you. Here are some tips to help you get started:
• Talk with your classmates who previously have worked at the firm to get their opinions (check out the Inside Scoop on Blackboard for where your classmates have worked over the summers).
• Find out what you can about the firm’s summer program. Do they rotate students through each practice group, or do they assign each student to one group for the whole summer? Does the student have any input in their assignment?
• Who are the firm’s clients? If you were to work there, would you be representing individuals, business entities, or municipalities? Does the firm mostly represent the pharmaceutical industry, banks, or technology firms? You can find this information through the firm’s website and by searching for the firm’s name (or a particular attorney in the firm) in the caselaw databases on Lexis and Westlaw.
• Does the firm have a particular niche practice area that appeals to you?
• What opportunities does the firm offer for professional development? For third-year students, what are the firm’s expectations for their new associate development?
• What type of work would you be engaged in as a summer associate or a law clerk? How is work distributed and how much responsibility are summer associates and law clerks able to assume? For third-year students, how aggressive must associates be about pursuing their own work?
When you visit the firm, either for networking purposes or for an interview, keep your eyes and ears open. You can gather a lot of information just from sitting in the reception area or while being led around the firm during your interview. What is the “feel” or “vibe” in the office? Are doors opened or closed? Is it silent as a library or is there lively conversation? Do the attorneys and staff seem relaxed and generally content, or is there a feeling of tension in the air? Watch the way people interact with each other. Try to speak with as many attorneys in the firm as possible to help you gain a well-rounded perspective.
These are just a few suggestions to help you find your best fit for law firm employment. You must determine for yourself what is important to you, weighing the plusses and minuses of each firm. Remember that the end goal is to find a place where you will be happy both professionally and personally.
Health Law Week
Interested in health law? Want to hear what it is like to practice health law? Hoping to work as a law clerk in health law?
Then don’t miss Health Law Week
Starting Monday, October 15, the CSO will host a week of events focused on health law. Attend as many events as you like - each event is open to all classes (including 1Ls)! Check out the schedule of events below!
Monday, October 17
Health Law Resources Table
Learn about the resources available for your health law job search!
Upper Rotunda, 12:00—1:00pm
Tuesday, October 16
Student Health Law Panel
Learn how your classmates found their summer position in health law, the types of employers they worked for, and the types of assignments that they completed.
Room A57, 12:00—1:00 pm *Pizza will be served!*
Wednesday, October 17
Health Law Career Panel
Hear health law attorneys discuss their practice in the health law field.
Room 158, 12:00—1:00 pm *Pizza will be served!*
Friday, October 19
Interested students are encouraged to attend “Taking the Health Law Career Path: 1st Annual Health Law Student Conference” sponsored by ASLME (American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics) and taking place at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. Visit the website to learn more about this event. http://www.aslme.org. Registration is $35 per student and covers materials and meals.
Update on Employer Outreach
As you may have read in this week’s The Docket, the CSO does aggressive outreach to employers in the markets where you want to work. Since July 2007, we’ve visited employers in Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, and, of course, Cleveland. And this month our Director of Employer Outreach will be traveling to meet with employers in Charlotte, Raleigh, Baltimore, and DC.
Please take a moment to check out the list of specific employers we’ve met with, which is posted on the bulletin board outside the CSO. We’ve included our list of meetings from the 2005-06 and 2006-07 school years and the list of employers we have met between July and October of this year.
This list is posted so you can see exactly where we are going and who we are talking with. Remember that the information that we obtain in outreach meetings is for you. So stop by the CSO and schedule a meeting with a counselor to find out what we know. And, if you have suggestions about markets or employers where you’d like us to do more outreach, please let our Director of Employer Outreach know.
12-Year Retrospective of New Associate Salaries
According to NALP, over the last 12 years new/first-year associate salaries have increased in firms of all sizes. The increase is most dramatic in large firms. Here is some interesting data to consider:
In 1996, the median starting salary at firms with 2-10 attorneys was $35,000 and it was $41,500 at firms with 11-25 attorneys. In 2007, the median for both firm size categories was $68,000, a 33% change since 1996.
In 1996, the median starting salary at firms with 26-50 attorneys was $52,000 and today it is $81,000 -- a 56% jump.
In 1996, the median starting salary for new associates at firms with 51-100 attorneys was $58,500 and now it is $90,000 -- a 54% jump.
In 1996, the median starting salary for new associates at firms with 101-250 attorneys was $60,000, and in 2007 it is $105,000 -- that is a 75% increase.
In 1996, the median starting salary for first-year associates at firms with 251 or more attorneys was $70,000 and now it is $130,000 -- a whopping 86% increase.
Salaries have increased in other legal employment sectors as well, but not at the same rate as at law firms.
American Bar Association's Law Student Mentoring Program
Interested in learning more about a specific practice area? Want to know what is like to practice law on a day to day basis? Looking for networking opportunities?
Then check out the ABA's Law Student Mentoring Certificate Program. This program, organized by the ABA General Practice, Small Firm & Solo Division, will introduce you to the practical aspects of being a lawyer through various activities and interaction with your mentor.
The great thing about this mentor program is it's flexibilty. You are able to pick your own mentor and tailor the program’s criteria to your interests. You can also complete the program at your own pace, so long as you complete all the required materials by the deadline date.
Who is Eligible?
As a law student you are eligible to participate in the program, so long as you are a member of the ABA and GP|Solo Division. The ABA’s annual dues for law students is $25.00. Membership to GP|Solo is free.
What will I need to do?
Certificate requirements include attending bar association events, talking with your mentor about rainmaking and client devlopment, and attending court activities, ADR meetings, or other legal proceedings.
Who can Serve as a Mentor?
You are free to choose any licensed attorney practicing any legal area in any legal setting to serve as a mentor, regardless of the attorney’s membership status with the ABA or GP|Solo.
Getting Started!
Click here to read FAQ's about the program, view the requirements, and register for the program.
CSO Coffee & Donuts
Please join us in the CSO on Monday, October 8 from 8:30-10:30 am for coffee and donuts. Spend a few minutes chatting with the CSO staff and start your week off with a hot cup of coffee and a donut!
College Cost Reduction and Access Act of 2007
Last week President Bush signed the College Cost Reduction and Access Act. The Act cuts lender subsidies and redirects the savings toward programs intended to improve college access and affordability for low-income students. Importantly, it protects borrowers from excessive repayment burdens and provides loan forgivenness for public service employees, including lawyers.
The legislation contains a new Income Based Repayment program intended to protect students from excessive student loan debt burden after graduation. It caps monthly loan payments at 15% of discretionary income for all federal loans made to students (including graduate/law students). Also, borrowers who spend at least 10 years working in public service professions and make income-based payments thorugh the Direct Loan program would be eligible to have their remaining loan balances forgiven after 10 years. Professions with the government and 501(c)(3) organizations are included.
Tips for Choosing a Career in Public Interest
Periodically throughout the year the CSO will be posting blog entries from guest bloggers about various topics. Please note that the views expressed by our guest bloggers are the personal opinion of each blogger and are not necessarily the views and opinions of the CSO. The CSO guest blogger entries are intended as an opportunity for attorneys currently practicing in the legal field to share their insight and advice with law students.
To continue with our Public Interest Theme Week, our second guest blogger of the year, Elizabeth Lashley-Haynes (class of 2002), a public defender in LA, shares her advice on choosing a career in public interest.
Tips for Choosing a Career in Public Interest
By Elizabeth Lashley-Haynes (Class of 2002)
First and foremost, are you dedicated to this line of work? If you immediately say yes, then you are going in the right direction. If you are hesitant in your answer, then you may have some trouble in the public interest field. I am not suggesting you should not TRY it, of course, experience comes from trying new things. But, if you are not dedicated to the idea of helping others and not being thanked (at all) it is tough.
To those who answer yes right away, don’t be afraid to try a public interest career that may not be exactly what you are looking for. Let’s say you really want to do civil rights work, but a job opens up in the area of homelessness or environmental law. What you will probably find is that the job is fulfilling, and you learn a lot. Additionally, it will give you the opportunity to meet like-minded attorneys, and possibly open up doors in the field you are interested in.
Finally, when you go into this line of work, you need to expect a few things:
1. YOU WILL NOT BE RICH, know it, accept it, and move on. There is something easier to deal with when you accept it ahead of time. Further, when everyone you work with is in the same boat, it becomes like a family...a poor family, but a family. You learn how to deal with the student loans, clothes shopping for sales, and driving a beat up car. After a while, you love it. I mean, after all, I am a public defender - what would I look like driving a new Mercedes? FYI - there has been a lot of legislation about loan forgiveness for public interest lawyers. See College Cost Reduction Act, passed early in September by Congress.
2. YOU WILL NOT BE THANKED, even when you do a good job. This mostly applied to people who go into the area of representing underprivileged people. You may work for days, weeks or months on something, or someone’s case. You may put in an exceptional amount of time, and do your very best. At the end of all that, you may just have a client who walks away without acknowledging anything you did, or worse, tells you off. Further, your supervisor or colleagues may never acknowledge what you do or did. You need to find within yourself why you are doing the job you are doing. You need to be happy with yourself and your work, all by yourself. You will very often not get any praise from anyone on the outside. Learn how to praise yourself on the inside. Everyone once and a while you will be graced with a “thank you” and it will warm your heart and make it all worth it.
3. THERE WILL BE DAYS WHEN YOU HATE YOUR JOB. This is related to #1 and #2 above. We are all human. After months or years of doing a public interest job, being underpaid and feeling underappreciated, you will have days when you will hate your job. Learn to accept those days and look forward to the next day. Make a mental list, or a actual list, about what you love about your job. It is easy to lose sight of the positive side of a public interest job. But, if you really loose sight of how good your job is you may make the mistake I did. I had a time when I felt this way and I left my job with the public defenders office to join a small, private criminal defense firm. I am not suggesting that there is anything wrong with criminal defense firms. Yet, if your heart is in public interest, and you leave for more money, you will probably end up feeling unsatisfied with your work. It took me less than five months to realize the private sector wasn’t for me. All I can say is that I felt like “it” wasn’t who I was. I said to myself, I wasn’t just working as a public defender, I AM a public defender, it is the very essence of who I am. Luckily the Los Angeles County Public Defenders Office accepted me back. Now, I am so grateful, happy, and fulfilled.
4. THERE WILL BE DAYS WHEN YOU LOVE YOUR JOB. This one is the most important. Hopefully, these day will outweigh the bad days. Probably the most important thing about working in the public interest field is that you will get to see how your work impacts the lives of other people, or society as a whole. You can walk home at the end of the day proud of the work you do. For me, I know that if I assist one drug addict in finding a drug program that helps them get sober; or help one juvenile get out of juvenile detention and back in school; or I free one innocent person from jail....I am satisfied with the work I do. This is the best feeling in the world. This is why I went to law school.
Public Interest Guest Blogger
Periodically throughout the year the CSO will be posting blog entries from guest bloggers about various topics. Please note that the views expressed by our guest bloggers are the personal opinion of each blogger and are not necessarily the views and opinions of the CSO. The CSO guest blogger entries are intended as an opportunity for attorneys currently practicing in the legal field to share their insight and advice with law students.
To kick off Public Interest Theme Week, our first guest blogger of the year, Jason A. Martin, Esq. (class of 2003), discusses the dilemma of public service and being able to serve the public.
Can I Afford to Serve the Public?
By Jason A. Martin, Esquire (2003)
The best public servants are those who come from the communities in which they serve and have a personal stake in the facilitation of justice, however, those potential public servants can’t afford to serve. It is difficult to give this subject the proper foundation without explaining how this dilemma came about.
Ironically, the best illustration of the dilemma comes from the medical field. In the early twentieth century the American Medical Association (AMA) felt that there were too many doctors. So they decided to make medical education so elitist and expensive, and so drawn out, that most students would be prohibited from even considering a medical career. The AMA set up requirements for four years of undergraduate education plus four years of medical school. The schools are required to have expensive laboratories and equipment, thus, by the end of World War I, the number of medical schools had been reduced from 650 to a mere 50 in number. The number of annual graduates had been reduced from 7,500 to 2,500.
The practice of law has traveled the same path as medicine. The practice of law has become an elite profession. The cost to become a lawyer has gone up astronomically over the years. Let’s add it up. To go to a decent law school, yearly tuition is about $20-30,000, not including living expenses, which could run up to $18,000 per year. The cost of books could be an additional $1,500 to $2,000 per year. At the end of the three years of law school, you must take the bar examination to become a licensed attorney. To take a bar examination preparation course will cost between $2,000 and $3,000. To take the actual exam is another $300 to $500. If you are fortunate enough to pass the exam, your money woes continue. There are bar membership fees that could run up to $350 per year and also continuing legal education to maintain your license, which can cost hundreds of dollars per year. The average cost of legal education and bar admission alone could cost someone upwards of $153,000.
Needless to say, new attorneys need to make a decent salary to offset the costs of becoming licensed. Unfortunately, the field of public interest law does not pay well at all. This has caused public interest law to become an elite field of practice. Many public servants, particularly prosecutors come from middle class to wealthy backgrounds. Many of my colleagues in the Queens County District Attorney’s Office lived in Manhattan, exclusive neighborhoods in Queens, Long Island, etc. All places where the cost of living is very high. Almost none of them lived or came from the communities that are most effected by the criminal justice system. This causes a disconnect between the public servant and the very public he/she is trying to serve.
In my experience, many defendants feel as though their attorneys, including legal aid, do not care about them, respect them, and identify with them. This often causes very tumultuous relationships between attorney and client. This occurs because many of the attorneys, in particular, public defenders, do not come from the communities that they are trying to serve. On the prosecution end, many prosecutors come from middle class to wealthy backgrounds, which greatly affect the way they perceive the people they are prosecuting. Many prosecutors operate from stereotypes, generalizations, prejudices and fear of the people they prosecute, especially “minorities”. This problem occurs because many of the people in the criminal justice system are “minorities” from poor neighborhoods, while most of the public servants are whites from middle class to wealthy neighborhoods. This is caused by the cost prohibitiveness of legal education and practice. This is a topic that is almost never talked about by those who could change this reality not only in the practice of law, but in every field of public service.