butterfly1988

Hello there!

Well I just wanted to hear as much feedback as possible. So I will keep this short and clear.
Before finishing up my Law degree here in the UK, I spent several summers working abroad in Atlanta, Ga and Savannah Ga. Part of my work involved internships in Juvenile Court representing children who had been deprived. I managed to form a good relationship with the Judge their and my other colleagues. I managed to get hold of some business cards too. Recently I have contacted the Judge I used to intern for and also some of the attorneys out there who I met requesting for any entry level paralegal/case clerk work. I have also sent out other speculative letters to Law Firms in the GA area. I wish to just gain experience for a year or two then branch out into other areas of Law.
The issue is is that I am British and I am not sure of my chances compared to the other Americans. Like what are my chances?
Any feedback would be great.

sir_eccles

Some law qualifications translate to the US, others don't. Sometimes it is on a state by state basis. Check the GA bar association to see what the criteria are for taking their bar exam. You may or may not need an American JD (law degree) to get anywhere.

You should note that there has been a huge influx of people going to law school.

Derrygal

That is very true - and there are also a lot of unemployed lawyers out there right now. My daughter is one of them.

MsElui

unless you have some other visa or legal status in the us- then i would imagine a small chance because they would have to add the cost of sponsoring you for a work visa to employing you - which they will save if they pick a local.

Bob

As a legal beaver, you've had a read of the wiki right? So you've seen the link to the general possible ways into the US right?

So you'd know that without a great deal of experience or niche skills, you're looking at realisitically slim to no chances to finding a sponsor right? What with the added cost of visa sponsorship and of there being loads of bodies with the qualifications, with the state bar under their belts who could start working tomorrow.

This leaves you with getting skills in a large company who might be willing to transfer you at some point, or organising a J1 internship, but that's also pretty slim pickings for the reasons above.

md95065

The employment prospects for new grads fresh out of law school are not good ...

Law Grads Sue Alma Maters for $450M
Plaintiffs say schools misrepresented their chances of finding a job as a lawyer.

penguinsix

You have two problems, and honestly both are pretty significant.

The first is visa and sponsorship. There are plenty of attorneys out there looking for work at the moment, such that it's hard for a potential employer to go to immigration and claim "we need him because we cannot find a suitable American to do the job". Many of the lawyers who do get sponsorship get it because they have experience in a bit of rather specialized law, like European Maritime Law, and a firm here has a need for someone with that skill. Getting sponsorship as a paralegal and not an attorney is going to be difficult to say the least.

And on top of that, you've got the accreditation problem. Only a one or two states will allow you to sit for the bar exam with only an LLB degree from the UK. In a couple of others you will be able to sit for the bar with an American LLM at a bare minimum, but in the vast overwhelming majority of states you will need to take a full three year JD degree before you are eligible to sit for the bar.

deng890

Forget about mass resume blasts to random law firms, you'll never get hired that way. The US legal market is way over saturated and will continue to be so for many years to come.

I guess if you're on REALLY friendly terms with some of these attorneys then you could try to convince them to do you the big favor of sponsoring you for a temporary work visa, no need to show that there are no local workers as for as a temporary visa is concerned (only applies to green card sponsorship). But even a temporary work permit is expensive and time consuming....so it really would be a big favor.

Derrygal

Very interesting article - I have forwarded the link to my daughter, who has a JD but is unemployed right now. She regrets going to Law School and still has a lot of loans to pay back. She is back in college now doing a degree for what (she hopes will be) a recession-proof career in health-care. It's very true - these Law schools need to be more upfront with people regarding their chances of getting employment and also more realistic regarding the salaries they will make.

ian-mstm

Respectfully, why would the school want to do that? That would surely negatively impact student enrollment. As with all things, the prospective student should be realistic about his/her career choice. The school is hardly to blame for a student having unrealistic expectations.

Ian

sir_eccles

While I agree with you, this is a common complaint against the private schools who as part of their sales pitch are essentially promising jobs in culinary/law/whatever field. For intelligent people like us we who have realistic expectations sure, but for someone desperate to get on the culinary/law/whatever ladder it probably looks very different.

Derrygal

The private schools are the worst culprits. They totally exaggerate the number of jobs available and also the salaries. They fail to mention that the salaries they post are only for the very large law firms (I'm thinking Jones Day here in Cleveland). They don't mention the fact that the medium sized law firms and small firms pay way less. And, BTW, I consider anyone who gets into Law school to be intelligent. Don't forget that here a law degree is a JD. A law school won't even look at you if you don't have a 4 year BA/BS degree.

scrubbedexpat099

So how can you both be bright enough to get into LAw School but stupid enough not to do any very basic research on what you could do with such a qualification?

Makes no sense.

CAProgrammer

Its just human nature.

We would rather imagine ourselves as being a part of the 1% that make it rather than the 99% that don't. Look at people who buy lottery tickets for years on end even though the odds of winning are so low. Look at all the people who move to LA and take acting classes and end up working in some low paying job waiting to be "discovered".

Also, there is knowledge on the one hand and wisdom on the other. You could be considered "bright" if you accumulate a lot of knowledge, but that doesn't make you wise...