Thursday, March 13, 2008

The Glorious State of The Legal Job Market

Let's look at some of the hot jobs up for grabs this week in the NYC metro legal market:

On the permanent job front: "I think a full-time retail manager/mcdonald's manager pays more: Attorney position available for uptown firm specializing inadministrative hearing, criminal, and real estate law. Starting salary $30,000 plus immediate bonuses.MUST BE FLUENT IN ENGLISH AND SPANISH! Please email resume to Murphy.Associates@yahoo.com"

In tempdom: "Kelly Law Registry is seeking admitted attorneys with document review
experience. We have a document review project located in Midtown
Manhattan starting tomorrow, March 14th and lasting through Friday, March
21st. Our client requires a background & drug screen to be completed for
selected candidates; however, you will be able to start with the results
pending. Kelly will begin the background screen once you are selected
and you will receive the form and information regarding reporting for the
drug testing when you start the project. Having to pee in a cup after completing seven years of higher education for a five day temp job; no thanks.

24 comments:

Anonymous said...

Anyone know the status of the AstraZeneca project Newark? Still going strong?

Anonymous said...

Let me get this straight. They are going to do a $65 pee test and a $120 background check for a 7 day project? You will lose 3 hours waiting for the pee test in the doctor's office. You will lose 4 hours completing their background check paperwork. But you can work on the project while they are processing this, which will take about a week. HR must have mountains of time and money to burn on this shit.

Anonymous said...

$30K for real estate law. Plus, you have to be bilingual. It's a joke right?

Anonymous said...

watch out for Kelly

Anonymous said...

That temp job is a joke right? Good one!!!

Anonymous said...

These projects are only as bad as what you are willing to allow them to be. Meaning, don't take crap projects. It's great to hear about these projects, but honestly, who is stupid enough to take them? At some point , if you want things to change, you have to also start examining the personalities that put up with this. We have massive debt, but I don't get how such a project would help you pay them off or why you would let someone treat you like shit.

Anonymous said...

Most agency people are scum, why else do you think they are not listed on their own websites in general?? Just try to find out what your recruiter looks like, or find out their background. I challenge someone to find a bio on Lauren Gibson or Julie Daley from Hudson, or Scott Krowitz, or anyone else...

Anonymous said...

4:57, they aren't listed for their own safety. If you knew what they looked like and their backgrounds, there's no telling what you freaks would do.

Anonymous said...

As 4:18 AM said, $30k for a bilingual attorney position in New York City? Would anybody actually take this job, knowing how little respect the firm must have for him/her?

I mean, seriously, $30k in this day and age? Sure, nobody promised us a rose garden, but a living wage is the least we could expect for putting ourselves in this kind of debt.

Operation Mayhem is looking less and less loony with each passing day........

Anonymous said...

The cream rises to its respective level. This is the norm in any field.

Some computer programmer jobs are listed for $15/hr. However, there are also $500k programmer jobs to the experts.

My frend made contacts w/ the local banks. He gets 100+ closings sent to him a month. He hired a few $60k monkeys to do the work. He lives like a gaudy rock star. (Massive house, exotic cars, etc.

Seems like the way to money in law is either:
1) Hire people to do the work. ie: Be the rainmaker. (partner)

2) Get involved w/ a HUGE case, and take that 20% cut. (Class action, etc. Win ONE multi-mill lawsuit, and you're retired.

Is that about right?

Anonymous said...

There are no 'easy' ways to make financial gains. That idea-- that if one does "x" then it will be gravvy train is what is wrong . We live in a society that has stagnant wages not just in this sector, but most others. That's not an issue of cream rising to the tops. It's one of economic fundamentals. The idea that America is an upwardly mobile society relies on growth. If you prefer, here's another metaphor. If there is no real growth, the pie isn't growing. If the pie isn't growing, then everyone is fighting over the same stagnant pie. Are you chances to become a "winner"? Sure. But the odds decrease. To address, formerly prestige professions such as ours use antiquated ideas about what defines the "cream" and arbitrary barriers to entry. Hence, no easy ride and less of the cream can get to the top. Or, if you prefer, the cream doesn't always rise to the stop, and shit can float.

Anonymous said...

Note to everyone, 10:46AM posted this exact same stuff on JDUnderground under the name "Frugal & Puzzled". Word for word. This guy is definitely trolling.

Anonymous said...

Tom, you still haven't put the shifty Allan Cohen on your scummy recruiter list. I demand a Michigan recount. Watch his horns.

Anonymous said...

Sooo..., about the Newark project???

Anonymous said...

AstraZeneca is the biggest project in the history of mankind.

Anonymous said...

How much longer do you think it will last?

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

We were told not to post, so I'm not going to say that I think it will last much longer. With all the pressure to work crazy hours (they obviously don't care about the quality of our work), some worry that we will burn through all the documents and work our way out of a job. However, it seems as if the document supply is endless. I think we will be here (at least in the Philly office) for a while. However, I didn't say any of this cuz they told us not to say anything. If someone from McCarter & English is looking, you didn't see this. By the way, having seen a lot of the documents, Seroquel is hurting people-- AstraZenca is guilty as sin. HAHAHAHAHA!!! I for one am laughing all the way to the bank.

Anonymous said...

Try Linked In for the resumes of recruiters. Julie Dailey is on there. She is a Graduate of Widener Law. A fourth tier school. Here is the link that I found: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/6/976/866

Anonymous said...

watch out for Patrick Gleason, Kelly Law Services

lomtevas said...

If any of you folks have a license to practic law in New York and you are not in practice, you are wasting the best years of your lives and doing no justice to yourselves or to our legal community.

Anonymous said...

Forget about drug testing, half the people at the McCarter Newark site need a psychiatric evaluation.

Anonymous said...

Check out this Wall Street Journal article on the legal job market from September, 2007:

http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB119040786780835602.html

Anonymous said...

Wrong link, my bad. Let's try this:

name of article is "Hard Case: Job Market Wanes for US Lawyers", published on 09/24/2007


http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB119040786780835602.html