Graduating law student (obvious goof), Pit advice sought

[lefty]

Dear Pit,

Right now my emotions are torn between the obvious joy of Bz's departure and the extremely likely possibility of graduating law school without a job. Whatever, it's a broken record at this point and at least I kept my scholarship all the way through so I have no loans. I have buddies that are graduating with 250k though, who are superfucked [sic, but it really should be one word for them].

Anyway, followed a girl I met at Wake up north (she was from Jersey, surprise surprise) and went to law school in the city. We'd both like to move back down to NC at some point. (She's doing grad school in chem, so prolly good for RTP).

Here's my dilemma: do I take NC bar with zero legal contacts and move back (and basically try and find a non-legal job), do I take NY/NJ bars with legal contacts but zero job opportunities (and basically try and find a non-legal job), or do I just abandon the bar altogether, cut my losses, and throw the savings into the Gregg Marshall crowdtilt?

 

[Liquid Karma]

Take a nice vacation.

 

[TAG1615]

The NC July Bar application deadline has already passed.

 

[AMCDeac]

Tough to evaluate your best option without some sense of your prospects, which admittedly, gets personal. Law school, class rank, prior clerkships (if any), what kind of job you are looking for? Congratulations, however, on graduating without debt. That does give you more flexibility. My uninformed answer is, if you want to be in NC and are not really giving up any meaningful opportunities in NY/NJ, take the NC bar. Then look for legal and/or non-legal jobs in NC.

 

[richis711]

If you really would like a job as a lawyer at some point, but just don't feel like you are going to get one right now, keep in mind that there are already 5000+ lawyers in Wake County alone. There are seven law schools in NC so you will be competing with all of those people with your out of state degree. Also, there is definitely a bit of a "good ole boy" network in this area, especially if you didn't graduate in the top of your law school class, so having no legal contacts around RTP definitely hurts when you didn't go to one of the in state law schools.

Not sure what the legal market is in NY/NJ, but it is definitely saturated here.

ETA, yeah, I think the NC late application deadline was last week or the week before... so, that might shape your decision.

 

[WFfb115]

If it's not too late to apply, take NY/NJ. If you're still jobless and thinking about NC after that, take NC in February. You have nothing to lose by taking another bar exam when you dont't have a job, and it will open you up to multiple markets.

 

[DeaconCav06]

Taking the NY bar would still allow you to apply for federal jobs.

 

[lefty]

Holy shit, I didn't realize the deadline was so quick down there (which is probably a good indication of how many shits I give at this point and how seriously I'm taking the possibility of having a legal career). You cannot even apply for NY until 1 April, and deadline for NJ is end of April.

So I guess the true dilemma now having learned that I've missed the deadline is more clear: take NY/NJ or ensure Gregg Marshall is hired. It's a tough call.

 

[RubbinsRacin]

if not too late and your not too gross, try to find a rich NYC socialite to bone and marry

 

[lefty]

If it's not too late to apply, take NY/NJ. If you're still jobless and thinking about NC after that, take NC in February. You have nothing to lose by taking another bar exam when you dont't have a job, and it will open you up to multiple markets.

Yeah, this is a good point - thank you for posting it. With the market so rough however I'm not sure if it would be worth it to throw more money at another bar exam, but maybe I could just cross that bridge if I come to it.

 

[buckets]

if not too late and your not too gross, try to find a rich NYC socialite to bone and marry

+1

 

[Deacon923]

Taking the NY bar would still allow you to apply for federal jobs.

this is good advice. lot of federal government presence in NC. consider looking for a job with the IRS. They will pay you to get your LLM, and after getting that and 4 or 5 years experience in the IRS, you will be valuable to a big law firm.

 

[lefty]

if not too late and your not too gross, try to find a rich NYC socialite to bone and marry

Too bad Mrs. Enfield is in LA

 

[Deaconblue]

Taking the NY bar would still allow you to apply for federal jobs.

this is good advice. lot of federal government presence in NC. consider looking for a job with the IRS. They will pay you to get your LLM, and after getting that and 4 or 5 years experience in the IRS, you will be valuable to a big law firm.

Both of these are excellent advice. Get qualified to practice in at least one state, so you can apply for federal legal jobs. That will get you at least one federal grade higher than non-lawyer. I haven't specifically looked at NC fed jobs, but look on USAJobs

https://www.usajobs.gov/.

 

[sailordeac]

Lawyer, eh? You can steal a lot more in NY/NJ than in NC. Besides everybody is a liar up there, so you wont be so obvious. Good luck.