BigLaw + Law School = Collaborative, Nonprofit Law Firm

The Georgetown University Law Center, pictured, has partnered with Arent Fox and DLA Piper to form a nonprofit law firm accessible to lower income clients in an effort to make the law more accessible to those in need of legal assistance. Photo credit: M. Ciavardini

 

I am intrigued by the collaboration of my law school alma mater, Georgetown University Law Center, and two for-profit law firms that, together, have launched a “low bono” nonprofit law firm intended for clients whose incomes are between 200 and 400 percent above the poverty line. Part of an industry-wide awareness that the law needs to become more accessible to many people who cannot afford legal fees at standard rates, but who typically don’t qualify for free representation through legal aid organizations, the initiative pairs Georgetown with two BigLaw firms, Arent Fox and DLA Piper. It will be staffed by LL.M fellows at Georgetown with BigLaw lawyers training and supervising on a pro bono basis. Even more interesting is that leadership of the newly formed organization, the D.C. Affordable Law Firm, is looking to include nonlawyers as well in some way. It’s an exciting path given the realization that not only does the law need to be more accessible, but law does not operate in a silo; it overlaps with business, social needs, and so on—so why not make different types of professionals more accessible, too?

This sort of law school/law firm collaboration could become a trend. After the Georgetown/Arent Fox/DLA Piper initiative was announced, a number of New York law firms, the City University of New York School of Law, and the New York City Bar Association disclosed another “low bono” collaboration called Court Square that will also feature legal fellows working for clients of modest income under the mentorship of lawyers. These fellows will also be learning how to run a small law practice.

Exciting times in the legal industry, indeed.

—Lori Tripoli

Interested in how the legal industry is evolving? You might like these posts:

• The Takeaway from the Dewey Mistrial
•  Mistakes that Small Law Firms Make
•  How to Thrive in the Diminishing World of the Legal Business
•  How to Survive a Depression, a Recession, and a Free-Fall Plummet
•  Lawyers, Make the Most of Market Unrest

 

How to Survive a Depression, a Recession, and a Free-Fall Plummet

There’s no real way to sugarcoat recent reports about the state of the legal industry. Law school applications are down, lawyers have been laid off, profits at some firms have diminished.

The thing is, I remember when reports like this were about M.B.A. students and teachers. There were once too many of those.

Every business is being impacted by globalization, the recession, and technology. Some old models will fail. Some new ones will become vast successes. Sure, someone whose lifelong dream has been to work in the legal field, whether to be a lawyer or a paralegal, could go to art school instead. Or she could get an agriculture farming certificate, or figure out what engineering degrees are all about and get one of those. But a dream’s a dream. If the legal business is featured in yours, make it work for you. And don’t forget to hussle.

On the bright side:

• If you’re a middling student, you just may well have a better shot at a better law school right now.
• The retrenchment that’s going on may well mean the end of ever-escalating associates’ salaries—and the 80-plus hour weeks those lawyers work to earn them. Make less; live more.

Ten years from now, we’ll all have adapted. Industry changes are never easy, especially if some measure of shrinkage is involved. The law’s not going away; crime hasn’t ended; civil disputes certainly still exist. Someone is always going to need a good lawyer, and a good lawyer is always going to need an even better paralegal. What that lawyer and paralegal do to get more business and remain competitive, though, is probably going to change. But shouldn’t it change anyway? At least no one can accuse the law biz of being stagnant.

—Lori Tripoli

The Versatility of a J.D.

I was heartened to see that the cover subject of the most recent edition of my law school’s alumni magazine is someone who pursued an alternative path. Savannah Guthrie, Georgetown University Law Center class of 2002, opted out of law review and big-firm life to pursue her broadcasting career. Now the co-anchor of the Today show, she still remembers her gig answering phones in the dean’s office while she was in school.

At a moment when law schools are under fire for, possibly, fudging the post-employment statistics of their graduates, and in an era when big law is facing some big struggles, remembering the versatility of a law degree seems especially opportune. Not everyone has to march from associate to partner or counsel. Nontraditional paths abound.

Some lawyers ditched their day jobs back when the economy was good to become investors and financial advisors on their own; they realized they could make a lot more money if they were doing more than the paperwork on any transaction. The analytical and decision-making skills learned during law school certainly bode well for leaders in the business world. Any number of legal marketing folks, both in-house and out-, have J.D.s in their pockets.

In D.C., the federal government beckons; plenty of policy makers don’t practice law but are admitted to the bar. Publishing, P.R., small business—any arena where the ability to research, reason, and think are especially useful—all provide viable avenues for a lawyer longing to leave the legal biz. The only time my J.D. held me back was when I was trying to break into publishing. Having moved from D.C. to New York, I was told by one interviewer that he worried about giving me a job for fear that I would stay just long enough to pass the bar in a new state. I’d been surprised at the time; back in Washington, plenty of people at the federal agency at which I had worked had law degrees and no intention of practicing. I persisted and became a writer and editor and have never begrudged my legal education. Habits I picked up during my own years at the Georgetown University Law Center, my reading and research skills, my tenacity, have only helped me over the years. J.D.s can help any number of people in any number of fields nowadays, too.

—Lori Tripoli

Need a Law Job? How to Make Sure You’re One of the 55%

If I were enrolled in law school right now, all the doomsday articles about post-grad employment statistics (like “An Existential Crisis for Law Schools” recently published in the New York Times) would, no doubt, have me hyperventilating. But obsessing about getting a job doesn’t actually help someone get a job. I’d turn some of that fear into action to increase the odds that I’d have a gig in the legal field upon graduation. To paraphrase Sally Bowles, what good is sitting alone in your law library? Start planning now for a job as a lawyer.

• Make yourself more marketable. Take law office management classes while you are still in law school to understand how to run a legal business—and possibly how to start one if you can’t land a job as an attorney at a firm after you graduate.
• Identify hot practice niches and take courses in those areas even if you loathe the subjects. Me, I would take classes on Intellectual Property, Patents and Trademarks, and Bankruptcy.
• Get experience: Work part-time, temp as a paralegal, or get an internship. If all else fails, volunteer for an organization. Start beefing up your résumé, meeting people in the field, and staying in touch with contacts.
• If you’re not on Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn for professional reasons, you should be. Follow law firms and other organizations that hire lawyers. Interact with them.
• Get published.
• Start a blog on something substantive and build a readership.

Truthfully, when I was in law school, I wasn’t too keen on doing things for free. The market has changed, though, so I would not be cruising around with that attitude today. Don’t sit around your law campus fretting about the future. Take action to make sure that you’re in the percentile with jobs in the field upon graduation.

 

—Lori Tripoli