Law Grad Working Retail offers cautionary tale of bad decision and bad attitude.
Business Insider recently highlighted the “Law Grad Working Retail” blog about a hard luck law school graduate without a job forced to sell cologne in some kind of department store. He clearly feels the job is beneath him.
“I am too good for this job. You know who else is too good for this job? EVERY SINGLE OTHER PERSON THAT WORKS HERE. Retail jobs fucking suck. What’s up with all these idiots white knighting minimum wage retail jobs? If you don’t think this work is dehumanizing then you are insane.”
He says that he’s “liveblogging the loss of my last shred of dignity” and discussing his job and coworkers.
He claims that he went to a top 50 law school, was on law review and had a second year summer associate position, but he did not get a job offer.
It is both difficult and easy to feel sorry for anyone who went to law school in or after 2009. It is easy because they are entering the worst long-term job market for attorneys that many of us have known or will know. It is difficult because after the disastrous 2007 and 2008 economies, it should have been clear to anyone being honest with themselves that the market for new law school grads would be extremely difficult. Even now, there is still a huge glut of legal talent that will take years to balance.
If we assume that even part of his writing is honest, there is a personality issue at play. A combination of a bad job market and a personality case make for bad job prospects.
Here is something all law students should understand when interviewing. If your school is good enough, and especially if you got the summer associate position in the first place, it is assumed you have the intellectual ability to do the job. However, the interviews and summer associate position test your personality. If working with you is miserable because you are annoying, lazy, ethically questionable or otherwise unpleasant to be with, people will NOT want to spend hours upon hours with you in a conference room reviewing documents. People will NOT want to take the chance that they will get excuses instead of work product.
He said in his blog that he hasn’t taken the bar exam. However, he has co-workers asking legal questions. It seems he is missing an opportunity to rise above a job he feels is beneath him. Get a license and a laptop and you can be in business. You do not need the other trappings of an office in a high rise.
“This blog is not about complaining that I can’t get a legal job. Where in the fuck did I ever say that? I haven’t taken the bar so I’m not even trying to get a legal job. But up until the bar exam I applied for thousands of legal jobs and couldn’t get shit. Since the bar exam I’ve applied for hundreds of non-legal jobs and have come up empty. It’s not like I’m gonna pass the bar and suddenly everything is going to be fine. I have plenty of friends who did pass the July bar and don’t have jobs. Stop saying “he hasn’t even taken the bar!” like you found some kind of gotcha against me.”
Here is where is he so misguided. No, getting the license is not going to make everything “fine.” However, it is a prerequistite to the practice of law. Since he did not get hired out of law school, he needs to pass the bar to even be considered for any type of legal job. He had a probationary period with a law firm that may have carried him through the exam, but for some reason it did not work out. I seriously doubt anyone else will take the same chance. No one is going to hire him as an attorney without it.
My guess is, even if his stories are true, he is really an aspiring writer. Fine. However, there are a number of red flags here for anyone who would consider hiring him, and it makes his lack of job offer from the firm where he spent his second summer understandable.
That said, his writing is somewhat entertaining. His co-workers sound like interesting people, and their stories will make you continue reading through the various posts.
In any respect, I wish him the best of luck. For aspiring lawyers, use it as a cautionary tale. Credentials are just the beginning. Personality and attitude also matter.