Portland Legal Market (lawyers, job market, transfer)

[bostex]

Hey guys,

I posted this in the Seattle thread, and would like to get a little info about Portland as well.

I'm a law student in Boston via Texas, graduating in December. I'm at a respectable, not uber prestigious school (here's looking at you Harvard), top half of my class...in short, just your average law student.

So based on my research thus far, I have a few questions that hopefully yall can help me out with.

-IP seems to be a big practice area, but I'm interested in corporate, securities, M&A, etc....is there a legit market in Portland for those practice areas, or should I stick to the east coast?
-I've heard Portland firms are very insular to those not from the area and it can be tough to get past that...thoughts?
-Big firms vs. boutiques vs. general counsel?

And finally any thoughts/information/advice yall can give on breaking into the legal market in the area will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks very much!

[neodorian]

This is also an interest of mine. My girlfriend is in her last year of law school and is currently working as a law clerk. We've started that whole process of deciding where she ought to take the bar. I work in IT and multimedia and have already seen a few jobs at OHSU and elsewhere that seem up my alley. We have been heavily considering Portland as a place to relocate as we have been on the east coast in the DC/MD/PA area our whole lives. Right now we are both about 30 years old, we like cities and definitely appreciate public transit. We like to go out to see live music and visit bars/brewpubs but we aren't quite the party types we were in our younger days. Our main goal is to find someplace where we can make a good living vs. the cost of housing/rental and have really been looking toward the Pacific Northwest and Portland in particular.

We wouldn't be moving for just over a year so I've been doing the research and window shopping. I'm sure you'll see me pop up later on asking about neighborhoods as the time gets closer. We plan to visit a few times between now and then but one of our main questions is regarding the legal market. Since she stands to be a little more lucrative than me in the near future, I've put a priority on her job prospects. Any input regarding the legal market would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

Jerry

[goozer]

In my experience, Portland is a tough market to crack for an attorney. It is not a hotbed of legal employment to begin with. Portland does not boast the large (300+ lawyers) national firms that you see in cities like DC, NYC, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Atlanta, and Los Angeles. Even Seattle, a larger legal market than Portland, does not really compare with these other similar-sized cities in terms of legal opportunities. The other thing I think you will find is that the PNW has plenty of east coast lawyers with impressive Ivy-type credentials who move out there seeking a slower and better pace of life. Look at the attorney bios for many of the firms in Portland and you will see an inordinate amount of Harvard/Yale types who might have toiled at a big NYC firm for several years before making their move.

In short, a lot of lawyers want to live out there and there are not sufficient attorney jobs to accomodate them. I think it is for this reason that the Oregon bar takes a strict view of attorneys seeking to be licensed in Oregon. Presently, only attorneys licensed in Washington, Utah, or Idaho may "waive" into the Oregon bar. Everyone else has to take and pass the exam. It protects the locals.

[neodorian]

Ah, that makes sense. Still, she is fairly open as to what kind of legal job she would be interested in. I think we're just gauging job availability in all of the cities we are interested in moving to and Portland seems like a very good fit for us and the kind of lifestyle we are looking for. Either way, jobs come first and we wouldn't plan on moving anywhere without having them lined up.

[Minervah]

After I graduated paralegal school four years ago, I found some of my competition for jobs was recently graduated attorneys. There is a gult of lawyers on the market and apparently many new grads are willing to accept law clerk and paralegal positons in lieu of attorney jobs.
The best idea would be for you to check out various laws firms to see if they have any openings and would be willing to hire someone from out-of-state.

[fjtee]

It's ugly. Minervah is correct in that many new law school grads take jobs as paralegals. Certainly don't move here from out of state without a job lined up. In general, the job market in Portland is really awful. I can't say for certain, but I'm guessing Seattle is a better bet. Get in there and if you still really want to come to Portland, then you can transfer. But, by all means try. When there's a will, there oftentimes is a way. Good luck!