About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

21 Syllabus 1 (1990)

handle is hein.journals/syllabus21 and id is 1 raw text is: American Bar Association Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar Volume XXI, Number I Spring 1990 LOO.K at Quality- C-,,nof Life Law Students Must Have Realistic Expectations ny Larol anarex D uring the past several years, lawyer career satisfaction, or lack thereof, has been a hot topic. Numerous articles and lengthy seminars have been devoted to the subject of creating kinder and gentler environments in which to practice law. Law firms, we are told, must be more sensitive to the needs of their attorneys to balance the requirements of work with the demands of their home lives. Firms should provide part-time work options, better training and feedback, more open lines of communication between partners and associates, and alternatives to traditional up or out policies. All of this is well and good, and important. Indeed, I have written and spoken extensively on these issues myself. But I am convinced that law firm policies and practices are only a part of the growing problem of lawyer career dissatisfaction. Equally important, in my view, is a factor that has been virtually ignored: the increasingly unrealistic expectations of many of today's law students. Unlike previous generations of men and women who chose to attend law school, most of the current crop of students lack real world role models to provide them with insights into the day-to-day realities of the profession. Instead, their decisions to pursue law as a career have been influenced in large part by media coverage of the biggest deals and cases, and the focus of most legal periodicals on life in the country's largest law firms. Consequently, many of today's students have an idealized view of law practice as glamorous, exciting and highly lucrative. A surprisingly large number of them actually envision a professional life not unlike that of any one of the lawyers on television's LA. Law: jury trials first- chaired by even the most junior associates; controversial criminal and civil cases involving cutting edge constitutional issues; and ample free time to pursue complicated romantic liaisons with their clients and/or fellow lawyers. Hardly real life! Legal educators are uniquely well- suited to help alleviate this problem. And they should help, not just for the good of the students, but for the benefit of the law school as well. Disillusioned graduates become disgruntled alumni; however, students who receive meaningful assistance in setting and achieving satisfying and realistic career goals will become enthusiastic and generous alumni. With that in mind, here are a few suggestions: First, find out whether or not students have fallen into the expectations vs. reality gap. The best way to do this is to anonymously survey them regarding the details of the employment they expect to have after graduation: size and type of employment setting, desired areas of practice, salary and geographic location. Then compare that information with the data supplied for the most recent graduating class by the National Association for Law Placement. There is most certainly a problem if large numbers of students indicate that they plan to do entertainment, sports, copyright, first amendment or international law. There are simply not many job openings in those fields, so they are not realistic choices for the average law student. Second, make career planning an integral part of the law school curriculum. By this I do not mean offering separate classes for credit; rather, bringing the real world in some way into each law school class. This can be done in conjunction with the placement office, and should draw upon the school's own alumni to the extent possible. Programs and discussions should focus on the probable career paths of typical graduates, rather than on the highest profile almuni. Faculty should be active participants in these Continued on page 3 _________________________ L _________________________ A Study of Class of 19 Need for Improved A major study tracing the job search and job satisfaction experiences of law school graduates from the class of 1983 recommends that the entire legal education community, from pre-law advisors through law school faculty and placement officials to legal employers, reexamine the form and content of career guidance provided to prospective law students and to law graduates. The study, sponsored by the National Association for Law Placement and published in the October 1989 Georgetown Law Journal, surveyed over two hundred members of the class of 1983 from twenty law schools two years after graduation regarding their job searches and job satisfaction, and correlated these by age, gender, class rank and law review standing. The study was authored by Marilyn Tucker of the Georgetown University Law Center, Laurie A. Albright of Stanford University Law School, and Patricia L. Busk of the University of San Francisco School of Education. Some key findings documented by the study include: 70 % of the respondents enjoyed 83 Reveals Career Planning their work, but only about 62% found the work to be what they expected. The youngest graduates (age 25-29 at graduation) were most likely to be unhappy in their jobs and disappointed in law as a career generally. Although older graduates had a more difficult time finding employment, they remained at their jobs longer than their junior colleagues. Only 15% of graduates age 30 or older had changed jobs within two years of graduation, compared to 70% of those age 25-29. Over 40% of the respondents were in their second job two years after graduation. (This includes a small number of graduates who had taken one- or two-year judicial clerkships.) Only 49% expected to make a long- term commitment to their current job. Class rank was strongly correlated with salary. Age and salary were inversely related: the younger the graduate the greater the income. Female respondents earned less than males. Only 63% indicated that, given the Continued on page 2 Commission on Women to Develop Model Policies T he American Bar Association's Commission on Women in the Profession is developing a Model Policies Manual on Parental Leave, Alternative Work Schedules and Sexual Harassment Policies for law firms. According to Elaine Weiss, ABA Staff Director for the Commission, the Model Policies Manual should be completed this month. The Commission on Women in the Profession has done a great deal of work examining quality of life issues. In a recent report adopted by the ABA House of Delegates, the Commission made the following observations. Although the practice of law has always made great demands on its practitioners, a new bottom-line oriented atmosphere pervades. Twenty-one hundred, twenty-two hundred and twenty-five hundred billable hours per year are not uncommon. How can any lawyer, male or female, combine such professional demands with outside relationships, children, personal fulfillment and satisfaction? The growing pressures for law firms to be successful businesses and for lawyers to produce even greater numbers of billable hours results in lawyers becoming dehumanized. They are unable to relate with compassion to clients, colleagues and family members. Perhaps the greatest contribution women have made to the legal profession is to make the profession look at its structure and ask whether it is satisfied with the direction it is moving. Many women are leaving traditional forms of practice, trying to find a setting where they can be good lawyers and responsible human beings. Men are leaving as well. One managing partner from a small city firm told the Commission that the firm had no trouble recruiting from larger cities, because your associates and some of your partners are no longer interested in living that kind of lifestyle. If the profession is to attract and retain competent, well-rounded people who are interested in being more than 24-hour-a-day workaholics and derive personal and professional growth from outside contacts, it is important that the American Bar Association, as the voice of the legal community, take a good, hard look at where the profession is headed. The issue is simply the survival and sanity of the legal profession. Jl

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most