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Building a Better Legal Profession

11/17/2008 9:05:24 AM EST

Do the Right Thing, Choose the Right Firm

By Matthew Schwieger

Posted by BBLP

Ask anyone, the last few months have shaken the legal profession from top to bottom. Amidst the layoffs and firm wide closings resulting from the financial crisis, significant changes in compensation and firm expenditures have been widely reported. For the many law students aching to get into the elite firms of the legal profession this summer and beyond, there has been little shortage of free advice offered. Based on this advice, it would seem there’s only a single response to an offer that might cross the laptop of a law student. By all indications, or at least from my reading, the advice has the predominant and unmistakable tone of “take what you can get.” Sound or not, this advice may not be as useful for 3L’s as it is for those 2L’s, and lucky 1L’s, looking to summer in their favorite big city.

It was just last month, even before giant firms began to dissolve and the annual office Holiday Party became a thing of the past, that I was in Chicago co-presenting and introducing Building a Better Legal Profession to law students that I first heard the same hard questions all law students are now asking. From the back row of seats in the lecture halls at both Northwestern Law School and the University of Chicago Law School came questions of whether it was even reasonable to consider turning down a firm in this economic climate. The reasoning goes that if an offering firm had no pro bono commitment, nary a hint of diversity, or even a poor reputation for work-life balance, even the most astute 3L simply couldn’t turn the firm down. While merely a thought experiment at that moment, this is surely a situation that many law students have faced this recruiting season.

In response to these questions, we suggested that a law student who has empirical evidence in hand that suggests he or she would be a dissatisfied associate at a specific firm may want to look at other firms, we could tell such an answer wasn’t cutting it. Immediately this prompted a reflection of BBLP’s ideals and whether rejecting an offer from a prestigious firm was really something a cogent law student could do as the economy was spiraling downward. However, as we scan legal blogs and reports from law schools and students, we are hearing that ideals can indeed hold up during an economic crisis; in fact, they may even be of more importance.

To be more concise, it was last month that law students at UVA had the good fortune to receive some advice from what one might call the “dean” of the legal profession, David Lat. After describing the pitfalls of chasing elite status in the legal profession where no matter who you are, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts included, there is always someone above you or who has done your job better than you, David offered some incredible advice. After encouraging students to find a firm that is the best fit for them based on what they value in a firm and as a area of specialty, he finished by encouraging students to “look beyond the rankings in both law and life.” If law students can take David’s advice to heart, then surely choosing the right firm for you is the best thing a 3L can do, no matter the state of the economy.

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