Wednesday, July 21, 2010

I could be your clerk/lawyer

To broaden the range of firms I'm applying to, I've started sending my resume to all of the firms advertising that they need law clerks.

The way I see it, if you think you need a law clerk, you just might need a lawyer.  I could be that lawyer.

Or, maybe they'll just hire me for the law clerk position.  Right now, I'm not above that.

4 comments:

  1. D:

    You did a smart thing sending resumes to all of the firms on the 4+ attorneys list. But many small firms are just 1 attorney. It takes a while to have money for 2, then 3 associates. (This ignores firm mergers, but you get the point). I'd grab a Sullivan's or Martindale Hubble and send to individual solo's who don't appear on any list.

    What ever position they hire you for, you insist that you be called an attorney.

    Do you have any interest in being a coverage lawyer? In criminal/divorce/PI, lawyers have to be multiple places at once. For routine status dates, they need someone with 1. a pulse, and 2. a law license, to be available on short notice and step up to get a date. The "run" fee is usually $100 "run" fee. You can also negotiate and blind plea cases. Most runners are former ASAs who's practice isn't busy enough yet that they'll scoff at $100 for an hour's work; but anyone can do it. You can meet and make friends with lawyers (network), get over the young attorney's intimidation of court, and pick up some practice areas.

    If you're interested, shoot me an email. No promises obviously.

    Gus

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  2. I like your idea about sending my resume to the smaller firms. I'm sure my firm has a Sullivan's kicking around. I think I'll see if I can borrow it over a weekend.

    I may sound stupid with this next bit, but I've never heard of a coverage lawyer. Is this practice common and I'm just in the dark? I also don't know what "ASA" stands for. I'll obviously need to learn more about this.

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  3. D:

    ASA = Assistant State's Attorney. It's common to need a runner in criminal law where you have to be many places simultaneously. I think other small law areas like PI & divorce need them as well.

    For example, I have to be in 3 different places simultaneously this Monday. DuPage, Will and McHenry. I will go to Will. I'll send a group text message to find someone in DuPage (if you are already there, custom is you cover it for free) and I'm calling around to find someone for McHenry. (I'll have to pay him more than $100 for that long drive). If I got say $2k a case, times 3, equals $6k. I pay 2 guys $200 to step up and take care of 2 of the cases; then I made $5,600 net that day ($6k-$400 runner fees). (Of course you can't get rid of every case in 1 court appearance; that would be nice.) Meanwhile, some guy made $200 for a few minutes of work.

    Gus

    ReplyDelete
  4. I just found someone for McHenry. If I had your cell ph #, you couldn've made 2 notes. It's not glamorous, but helps pay the bills.

    ReplyDelete

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