Entry-level legal job market for an out-of-towner around Berkeley? (attorney, law school)

[ktbiz21]

I'm considering trying for a job at U-Cal Berkeley in a year or so, but a big question mark in the move is how the job market is for my girlfriend. She's currently in the high-middle of her class at a top 30 law school in Boston (BC), and she thinks she's interested in working in trusts & estates law, tax or possibly IP (though with no tech background, IP could be tough). However, she is pretty open to switching to related fields, as long as she can work in an area of law that is code-based and allows her to have rewarding relationships with clients personally (don't ask me any more details, I'm just a scientist! ).

So my question is this: How is the job market for entry-level attorney positions around the Bay area (preferably closer to Berkeley than further)? What's it like for an out-of-towner coming in and trying to find positions? Do you know of any good web resources I can steer her to for the job search?

Thanks in advance, this is a great forum and I'm looking forward to hearing from you all.

[mayorhaggar]

Might be tough. I have a couple of friends with law degrees from good schools in the Bay Area and they can hardly get an interview and have been looking for attorney jobs for over a year now, and they're working in unpaid positions just to get experience. The rest of the legal job market (secretaries, paralegals etc) seems pretty dead too. A lot of big firms went bust in the last couple of years and I think other firms are either overwhelmed with resumes from people from these closed firms or they are too scared to hire.

[ktbiz21]

Originally Posted by mayorhaggar

Might be tough. I have a couple of friends with law degrees from good schools in the Bay Area and they can hardly get an interview and have been looking for attorney jobs for over a year now, and they're working in unpaid positions just to get experience. The rest of the legal job market (secretaries, paralegals etc) seems pretty dead too. A lot of big firms went bust in the last couple of years and I think other firms are either overwhelmed with resumes from people from these closed firms or they are too scared to hire.

Yeah, it's like that here in Boston as well. I have a friend who, after looking for over a year after getting out of law school, was advised to get a job as a bartender to meet clients so he can start his own practice. So now he's a busboy, working his way up to bartender working his way up to lawyer. Yikes...

[kayy911]

If she's not a member of the California State Bar then odds are she's not going to get hired here. There are however quite a bit of entry level attorney jobs in the area, take a look on Craigslist. From personal experience I know these aren't very rewarding jobs as they do most of the work for little pay (compared to the other people at the firm) and it's easy to get burnt out quickly. Look on Craigslist though hit Jobs then the legal category and you'll see quite a few jobs.

[ktbiz21]

Originally Posted by kayy911

If she's not a member of the California State Bar then odds are she's not going to get hired here. There are however quite a bit of entry level attorney jobs in the area, take a look on Craigslist. From personal experience I know these aren't very rewarding jobs as they do most of the work for little pay (compared to the other people at the firm) and it's easy to get burnt out quickly. Look on Craigslist though hit Jobs then the legal category and you'll see quite a few jobs.

I'd say if we ended up going there, any job would be better than nothing. Thanks for the advice!

[mayorhaggar]

Maybe see if she can do some sort of clerkship here, a lot of firms hire people who work there as a summer clerk or whatever. Not sure how that works with people out of state.