Any RU Law grads?

[Knight Shift]

A good barometer of law students who will have opportunities at big law firms are those who get summer associate jobs after their second year. A few things that I would have done, knowing what I know now. One, work this summer or during school (if possible) at law firms. Get involved with moot court and mock trials to get litigation experience. Working at big law firm generally will not come down to who you know unless you are borderline. It will be more about your credentials as it is a very formalized recruitment.

If things are the same as they were when I was in law school more than 20 years ago, this is very true. My post above was more about finding a way in the back door if the traditional route fails--but the traditional route seemed to be where 90+% found their way into BIGLAW.

 

[RickDaglessMD]

I had previously applied to the firm and got the form "Thank you for your resume, unfortunately . . ." letter. So what changed? I met a CPA at my mother-in-law's work function that I was attending. We chatted a bit and it turned out he knew the heads of the practice group I wanted to work in. He put in a good word for me, which was enough to get me in the door.

I had a similar experience. Before I got the CoA gig, I applied to Houston firms and got stonewalled. Then, after I got this job, I met someone who works at the firm I'm going to, so I reapplied and he was able to get me into their hiring committee, which is what led me to getting an interview/job. Incidentally, you were right about me being EIC/magna, but I still had initial trouble getting a job in an unfamiliar market (Texas) because I had no local ties. It just goes to show that credentials are great, but contacts are everything.

A good barometer of law students who will have opportunities at big law firms are those who get summer associate jobs after their second year. A few things that I would have done, knowing what I know now. One, work this summer or during school (if possible) at law firms. Get involved with moot court and mock trials to get litigation experience. Working at big law firm generally will not come down to who you know unless you are borderline. It will be more about your credentials as it is a very formalized recruitment.

Agree that it is much harder to get a biglaw job at a firm if you don't summer there, unless you do something else after graduation to increase your stock (clerking, DOJ, etc.). But I know a lot of people who are above borderline and who didn't get biglaw jobs. Some of that was due to personality, but a lot of it had to do with the fact that these firms will maybe have one or two spots they give to Rutgers students (if that) and they fill the rest with other law schools. A few of my friends who had great GPA and good resumes got squeezed out. I consider myself to have a very strong resume, but my initial job search in Texas was difficult because I didn't have any Texas contacts or ties.

 

[urbanecane]

Lots of interesting background stories here. I took a bit of a different route here than most:
1) Rutgers undergrad;
2) Tulane Law; then
3) Masters in tax from NYU.

Coming out of Tulane, I was not top 25% (top 1/3 though). Also, I knew very quickly that I didn't want to have anything to do with a courtroom. I do Wills and Trusts, although coming out of law school I also did some business and some real estate.

During my 3rd year at Tulane, I just wasn't getting any satisfactory offers, and every big firm I interviewed with (there weren't many) told me that they couldn't consider me without the tax degree. So I got one. In 3 weeks at NYU, I had more interviews with big firms than my entire 3 years at Tulane.

I wound up starting off at a mid-size boutique estate planning firm and then shortly after that going to a big firm. The big firm pay was nice, but nothing else was. I went out on my own after some time.

At first it can be very challenging, and scary as hell with respect to $. It takes a long time to:
1) build a base;
2) run a business;
3) learn all the software you need to learn;
4) hire and fire employees;
5) learn how to tell all the vendors who will call to "go away";
6) learn how to market; and of course
7) learn how to actually practice law.

The big problem with law schools is that you don't actually learn ANY of these things, including how to practice law.

Be humble, work hard, keep learning all the items 1-7, and you'll figure it out.

Most importantly, figure out what works for you. Not everyone should run their own firm. Certain careers are better suited to a big firm environment than a small firm environment... but if you want the big firm, don't do it for the money. They money will come if you are good at anything. Do the big firm only because it provides you a career opportunity that you can't otherwise get in a small firm environment.

Would you still recommend the NYU tax LLM? I'm a first year tax and T+E associate in a small firm in NJ. I've been toying with the idea of applying for the part time program in a year or two.

 

[retired711]

Would you still recommend the NYU tax LLM? I'm a first year tax and T+E associate in a small firm in NJ. I've been toying with the idea of applying for the part time program in a year or two.

I would certainly recommend it. Sometimes firms pay for it in exchange for your promising to stay there a certain period of time. But even if not, the program will teach you a lot and the degree is very prestigious. Those who have gone through it tell me it's well worth the hard work that a part-time program involves.

 

[jonRU09]

Would you still recommend the NYU tax LLM? I'm a first year tax and T+E associate in a small firm in NJ. I've been toying with the idea of applying for the part time program in a year or two.

A friend of mine got his Tax LLM from NYU, although he did the full-time program. He enjoyed it a lot and is now over at PwC. I am concerned for his well-being, however, as nobody who genuinely enjoys tax law can be right in the head.

 

[Yo1o]

There are lot of solution to make a good reputation for yourself but you need to have potential to make friends and to be charismatic and impressive in order to get your position in big law. If you don't have anybody in your family, than for sure you have friends with lawyer fathers or mothers that can help you, so make yourself potentially capable. If you want to find more, solutions, I can also suggest you to find somebody that can hire you as a paralegal. I think you know what a paralegal can do and how many things he can solve, then you can make your path to big law little by little.

 

[retired711]

There are lot of solution to make a good reputation for yourself but you need to have potential to make friends and to be charismatic and impressive in order to get your position in big law. If you don't have anybody in your family, than for sure you have friends with lawyer fathers or mothers that can help you, so make yourself potentially capable. If you want to find more, solutions, I can also suggest you to find somebody that can hire you as a paralegal. I think you know what a paralegal can do and how many things he can solve, then you can make your path to big law little by little.

As someone who has helped students find jobs, I agree that you have to sell yourself to get a good job. But that's true in every walk of life and at every job. . I know a woman who came to Rutgers Law from southern California. She had first-rate grades, but her personality turned off every firm she interviewed with.

I think some do go from being paralegals to lawyers, but I don't think it's a very common route because many lawyers, unfortunately, look down on paralegals.

I have heard of graduates buying their way into law firms to get a job, but good firms don't do that. The big Philly and NY firms routinely let new partners pay their way in via installments, and I think that is true just about everywhere. Law firms want people who will impress and do good work for the clients, and who can bring in business via merit and personality. People's personal fortunes don't matter.