Post-Clerkship Job Thoughts

Unlike many young attorneys and recent law school grads, I am currently employed. I am very lucky to be employed. In fact, I am incredibly lucky that I am employed as a law clerk because this is the kind of gig that gets a young lawyer noticed later on. It's prestigious, a great learning environment and sort of akin to a doctor's time in residency. Clerkships typically last one to two years. I am doing two, one year clerkships (first for the District Court and then for Superior Court). In this sense I am doubly lucky because not only am I doing two clerkships, but I'm employed for two years. After Summer of 2012, however, I have to enter the real world in a very real way and I have to figure out in what capacity I wish to do this. Of course, a lot of that decision is based on others' preferences (i.e. the hiring attorneys at prospects places of employment). For now all I can do is give some thought to my situation and figure out what to aim for.

Of course, I have to keep a few things in mind including mobility and reputation. Mobility because Leigh and I have agreed to a 5 year plan here in Alaska. It's long enough for my bar admission to become reciprocal elsewhere and for both of us to establish career tracks without getting stuck here. As for reputation, I have to be careful to not take a job with a company, firm or organization that assumes I will stay forever. I would hate to ruin my reputation by taking a "lifer" job and then leaving to go to grad school in France or take a position in Seattle (where we really want to spend the bulk of our careers). With all of this in mind, my options appear to be as follows:

Public Interest (working for the State or a Non-profit):
Initially I was certain that I wanted to work for the State after my clerkship. The benefits are fantastic (they MATCH your retirement savings 100%!), you get flexible time off, the chance to travel around the state and work on a variety of cases. The pay is pretty fair, too. My only concern is that I'll get stuck prosecuting. I have no interest in criminal law and I really, REALLY don't want to get stuck in that cycle. It's such a downer and I studied finance and international trade for a reason. This remains a good option, assuming I tread carefully.

As for non-profit work, well those jobs are less than abundant. It would be pretty cool to work in a non-profit environment for a few years. The pay is OK, hours are extremely flexible and sometimes you get to work on a really interesting project. Plus nobody expects you to stay forever, so I could definitely go back to school after a few years without my co-workers batting an eye. But, like I said, these jobs aren't exactly growing on trees. I will certainly keep my eyes peeled, though.



Big Law (major, national or multi-national law firm):
The benefits of big law are obvious- a chance to gain lots of experience quickly, a big paycheck, partner track, prestige, etc. However, getting a job like this is a task in itself. After some quick research I have found that the Big Law firms in Anchorage tend to have associates and partners all from the same law school and/or from a T-14 school (always ranked in the top 14 or 15 of US law schools). I went to SUNY Buffalo, a good school but not a typical "feeder school" for west coast firms and certainly not a T-14. I've also noticed that these firms tend to only hire their own summer associates, so coming from a clerkship might be challenging. But let's pretend I leap over these hurdles with flying colors, then I have to be careful about firm politics and culture.

Like I said before, I want to go to grad school in France after a few years, so I'll be taking about 2 years off to study. Ideally I'd like a job that would allow me to take a sabbatical or at least come back to work after finishing my program. Unfortunately, Big Law can be cut-throat. Everyone wants these jobs, so why hold a spot for me while at school when they can just replace me with a new graduate who will probably work for less money (because there are too many law grads and not enough jobs, so starting salaries are becoming insulting)? There's always the option of quitting after 3 or 4 years on the job to go to school, but will this make me a pariah in the legal world? Is this a "lifer" firm? All of this requires consideration. On top of all of these unknowns, there's the workload (billable hours). A job in Big Law garauntees that I'll be working a minimum of 60 hours per week and I'll be lucky to get a vacation, even a long break at Christmas to visit family. I have to consider if I think I can handle that and, if so, for what number of years. In spite of all these "unknown" or seemingly "negatives," I'd still jump at a chance to work in Big Law if it was for a particular firm. I'd be willing to put the time in, play my cards right, try to get that "sabbatical" time, and hopefully get a desireable transfer. If the workload got to be too much for having a family, etc I could always work as "Of Counsel" or part-time to reduce my billable hours requirement. The options are there for a career that works for me.... if I can get a foot in the door...

Smaller/Regional Firm:
A friend of mine here in Anchorage works for a smallish firm with a Seattle office. The firm does a lot of business and she seems to really like it there. Her area of practice isn't something I'd normally enjoy, but definitely not an area I'd avoid like the plague. An option like this could work. The hours would be long, but probably pretty flexible (though not "non-profit flexibile") and the pay would be fine (but not "Big Law pay"). At the end of the day, if I don't see myself doing this forever or if things get stagnant, I can always go to grad school as a way to hit the "restart" button on my career and come out of that degree program planning to do something totally different. This could work, now I just have to figure out if these places hire very often.

In-House Counsel:
This option could be really fun. I'd have one client, I'd work on a series of projects and my goal would be to reduce my own workload by keeping my client out of trouble all the time. I love the idea of practicing preventative law. Plus this would use my business/finance skills (I'd imagine). The only problem I see with getting this kind of a job is that I don't know how to go about it. In-house counsel jobs can be strange animals and a lot of people just fall into them. I did apply for a student position with the in-house counsel of an insurance company once, but left the interview wanting to take a shower. I could never work in insurance. Gross! In Alaska, the Native Corporations advertise their in-house positions, but I've never seen an ad for a job with a major businesses (like telecom, etc). If I heard of such a position opening up I'd probably apply for it.

Anyway, after fleshing this out a bit I realize that my interests are definitely varied enough to be a benefit. Though I'm still not sure what route is best for me, so of course I'll take outside opinions on the matter. The real challenge might be finding the right opportunity/job opening. Alaska has a good job market overall, but that doesn't mean that there's always a job to apply for, especially in a profession like law. I guess I should start looking early, right? Wish me luck!