The Status Quo

First, let me welcome anyone who wandered in this way from my friend Lee Rudnicki's Blog 7 site. Thanks to Lee for the kind mention. Lee and I both work with the San Francisco Renegades Drum and Bugle Corps, and I'm sure Lee would appreciate me mentioning the Renegades' upcoming Loud Music Symposium concert on April 30 at the Heritage Theater in Campbell, CA.

OK, the pleasantries are out of the way. Now please step back a moment while I rant about something: I am really bothered by the concept of the "status quo" in the legal world.

Law is a great and noble profession, with traditions that date back thousands of years. For all the positives that come along with that, there are also a lot of negatives, not the least of which can be a blind adherance to the past just because that's the way things have always been done.

Some things that irk me:

The prestige issue, or "don't bother applying if you didn't go to a name school." I mentioned last time that very few JFKU Law grads work in medium/large firms. I think there is a reason for that - the law school attended is often what makes the difference between getting an interview and getting a rejection letter. No one ever gets questioned for hiring a McGeorge or Boalt grad, but JFKU? Well, guess what...neither of those schools had a 100% first-time Bar pass rate, so I fared better on the Bar exam than at least one person from each of those schools. And isn't that supposed to be the "great equalizer" - we all passed this bastard of a test?

Age discrimination - even people who graduated from name schools can have trouble getting jobs if they are "too old." Apparently 49, or even 40 - yep, 40 - are "too old", according to a recent post on TechnoLawyer's Fat Friday newsletter. Why the prejudice? Conventional wisdom says firms want to work new associates to death and they know that older lawyers have families and lives outside the firm that may inhibit their willingess to work long hours. Yeah, but they also have lots of real-world experience that can make them better lawyers...ah, that's just me being naive again.

The unwillingess to train - there are very few real entry level positions on the market today. Almost all openings require a minimum of two years' experience - it's the rare exception that will hire directly from law school and provide on-the-job training. The jobs are probably there, they are just not advertised...I'm guessing that they are handled off the books, and given to lawyers who interned for the firm in law school. This is probably a great commercial for internships, if you can get them.

You might get the idea from this that I am becoming bitter - not so. I am still very optimistic that, given the right opportunity, I could be a great associate in a law firm setting. I am just tempering that enthusiasm with reality, so I will not be too disappointed if it does not happen. And, as a result, I am planning for the future that things may be different when I become successful, take on partners, and am on the other side of the hiring equation.