Top firms evaluate talent beyond a candidate’s law school. They search for attorney candidates who’ve excelled in their classes despite attending second- or third-tier law schools. These lower-level learning institutions usually produce graduates with on-demand legal skills that appeal to legal recruiters more than a graduate degree from top-tier law schools.
At Astor Professional Search, our team of legal recruiters understands what top firms look for when hiring. We provide valuable resume advice and interview tips to inform your job search plan. Our job search professionals maintain ongoing communications even after resume submission, creating an excellent hiring experience for you and the recruiting firm. Call us at (312) 781-9000 to schedule an appointment.
The prestigious law school you attended may not automatically open doors in the legal job market. Many top firms are looking past candidates’ alma maters. Their focus has shifted to attorney talent evaluation, rather than the law school a candidate attended.
Top law firms seek law graduates who’ve outclassed their peers to achieve academic excellence. They believe that such candidates are ambitious, focused, and hardworking. It doesn’t matter if they went to second- or third-class law schools.
Law firms prefer experience over school prestige due to the following reasons:
Top students from top-tier law schools often disregard associate positions at lesser-known firms. Their Ivy League statuses guarantee them positions in the most prestigious firms. The law schools’ “brand recognition” enables them to negotiate with prestigious law firms to offer full-time positions to summer law interns regardless of their performance, skills, or excellence in their field.
Additionally, Ivy League law schools opted out of ranking against their competitors, eliminating the need for students to strive for higher performance. Students don’t work hard when they know that summer internships and full-time job offers await. In such an uncompetitive environment, students don’t get the legal skills needed to handle the real-world pressures in the employment market.
The curricula offered in prestigious law schools only prepare students to become honored civil servants in the country’s legal system. They educate them to become respected public figures, such as US Supreme Court Justices or international law analysts. Their courses teach political theories, international law, and capital punishment, which are crucial in equipping students with knowledge to occupy such offices.
However, many law firms prefer law graduates skilled in specific practice areas, including real estate law, tort law, criminal trials, and litigation. In less prestigious schools, students compete for high performance and excellence. They learn topics and skills relevant to legal practice areas. That appeals to many law firms.
The preference for Ivy League graduates has declined among legal employers. Firms value skills and competence more than Ivy League law degrees. Today, employers take candidates through skill-based law firm hiring criteria. Such an approach in recruiting enables them to hire top talents with practical experience and skills that will contribute to their firms’ growth.
The key areas legal employers check beyond candidates’ law degrees include:
If you’re a legal practitioner seeking a lateral move, a recruiting firm will be more interested in assessing your previous on-the-job training. This assessment helps the recruiter determine your skill level in undertaking your job description and duties. Whether you got your law degree from a prestigious school or a second-class institution isn’t important. Your level of training is the object of focus.
Gaining experience from a reputed law firm or an attorney with good credentials and a law background is an added advantage. Firms value training or experience gained outside a law firm, including:
You should critically think about the legal area you want to pursue. Your choice affects your employment and career development prospects.
Let’s assume you’ve worked as a corporate lawyer for three years. You now want to switch to litigation because it’s more interesting, enjoyable, and manageable. In such a case, it can be challenging to get employment as a litigator. It may mark the start of a declining legal career.
Litigation is one of the legal areas that requires a lot of business for one to thrive. Switching to a new practice area slows down your career. A recruiting firm won’t hire you because it deems your newcomer status a business risk. The chances of getting a job and staying employed in a top law firm are low.
The high attrition rate in the legal world is a challenge for law firms. Employers are looking for candidates who can work for them for many years. Some new associates appreciate their new positions, form warm work relationships, and become happy and productive. Others tend to leave after a few years of employment.
If you have a history of getting hired and staying with a firm for years, a recruiter views that as stability. You’re likely to be hired, especially if the employer intends to offer employee training and onboarding.
Many legal practitioners work in specific practice areas and earn a good reputation among other attorneys. For such popular lawyers, the law schools they attended are less important to employers. A stellar reputation shows that you’re a professional with an excellent work ethic and determination in your career.
A recruiting firm is likely to hire an attorney with a good reputation. With such a valuable addition to its workforce, the firm can leverage the attorney’s popularity in the legal community to further its goals. It’s not unusual to hear a prestigious firm hiring a lawyer from a second-tier law school after seeing the attorney’s vehemence and passion when driving motions and legal arguments in court.
In the competitive legal space, recruiting firms focus more on evaluating candidates’ skills than on the law schools they attended. Law graduates and associates can use a strong lawyer portfolio to showcase their career stories to employers. You can create an online portfolio that includes:
An online lawyer’s portfolio will increase your chances of getting noticed by hiring managers and legal recruiters.
The two most common lawyers’ portfolios include:
A law school graduate portfolio shows your academic credentials and achievements. A resume is a crucial feature in the portfolio. It informs employers of your professional background, legal skills, and academic history.
How you organize your resume can make or break your employment opportunities. Besides understanding what should appear on a lawyer’s resume, you must also know how to write a professional cover letter. Your law school graduate portfolio should also contain internship experience at various legal firms, legal writing samples, academic documents, and academic achievements, honors, or awards.
Creating a law school graduate portfolio is not enough. You must also know how to organize a job search after law school to stand out from other candidates in the job market.
This portfolio shows your career path and the skills you’ve acquired over time. It enables you to attract clients. It also makes it easy for you to make a lateral move. This type of portfolio is more important than your alma mater. It details your reputation, career stability, years of experience, and ability to stick to a legal position for a long time. Many law firms place more value on these factors than an Ivy League law degree.
A lawyer’s portfolio also includes a resume detailing your work experience and success rate in litigating cases. The resume must also include case summaries and key outcomes, career achievements, awards, and honors.
Besides a strong lawyer portfolio, effective networking for legal professionals is instrumental in securing your dream legal job or making a lateral move. Networking enables you to keep up with industry trends and identify opportunities. You can network with other associates, partners, or employers by engaging in online legal forums and attending conferences. You can also leverage social media to create your professional profile and connect with other legal professionals.
Are you a fresh law school graduate, seasoned attorney, or partner looking for an open position in a reputable law firm? Astor Professional Search is your trusted partner in your job search journey. We know a one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t work when helping candidates get their preferred placements. We take a personalized approach to match you with a firm where you can thrive. Contact us to learn more about our legal recruiting solutions.
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