Soldiering On: One Jobless Lawyer’s Tales of Woe

[WSJ_law_blog]

Ever eager to get a sense of how unemployed lawyers are coping with this nasty, insidious, mean-spirited downturn, we were interested to learn about a relatively new blog, joblesslawyer.com.

It purports to be written by a licensed New York attorney, with two Ivy League degrees, who was laid off in March ’09 as a commercial litigator at an unnamed law firm.

We can’t of course verify the jobless lawyer’s bona fides, but his blog sure reeks of verisimilitude, capturing the frustration of job searches, legal recruiters, and unmet expectations.

Without further adieu, here are a few snippets of woe from joblesslawyer:

Last year I was studying for the New York bar exam with a job offer in hand and a brand new lease on a prime New York City apartment ─ with a balcony view of the Empire State Building . . . oh how quickly things can change;

After my early March interview with Bloomberg [for a legal analyst position] I did not get another serious interview until mid July, 5 months later!!!

There comes a time in every jobless lawyer’s life when they have to look at themselves in the mirror and say, “it’s time to beg for a job on Craigslist.”

Nowheresville is where 95% of my resumes wind; 4.99% wind up in a combination of the Bermuda Triangle, a random Black Whole, and Never-Never Land. . . .Finally, .01% actually reaches someone with the capacity to hire, who then promptly discards my resume;

And here’s a post from yesterday:

I still have not heard from the firm [with whom he interviewed] in over two weeks. I can’t tell at this point if something turned them off during the interview or if the work they thought would “certainly” be there wasn’t yet? . . . I remain hopeful but will continue to chug onwards.

Hello - I would first like to introduce myself. I am Natalie Woolever, the managing director of CLE123, a self-study CLE provider offering courses in New York, California and Arizona. As a CLE provider, we strive to provide attorneys with the most up to date and relevant content available and, to that means, we are always looking for new speakers to expand our library. I am not sure if this website is the right forum but I figured that since you regularly feature and discuss the layoffs and hardships affecting attorneys - especially in NY - lecturing could be a good supplement to unemployment. Not only would a speaker earn royalties paid on a quarterly basis, but they would also earn free CLE.

Here are a few details - Attorneys speak on the topic of their choice. The recording process is quite straightforward and consists of simply sending the speaker a digital recorder to use at their leisure. The course can be any length of time from one hour to whatever time it takes to adequately cover the chosen topic. Additionally, the courses are all sent to an audio editor, so the lecture does not have to be perfect in that any "ummms", pauses or misspoken sentences are edited out.

Our payment is royalty based and paid on a quarterly basis and we offer our speakers a percentage of the sale price of the course. We sell a one credit course for between $30 and $40 and offer our speakers a percentage of that amount for as long as the course is sold by our company.

If you would like to learn more about CLE123, please visit our website at www.cle123online.com or call me at (516) 512 – 4187.

Thank you for your time and I look forward to hearing from you if you are interested in working with us.

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Natalie Woolever
CLE Coordinator, CLE123
(866) 925 - 3123 x1