Improvement in the Legal Job Market?

I was looking for a good way to kick off my blog, and since discussion about an improving legal job market, or an absence thereof, seem to be all the rage, why not take it in this direction?

I know that media outlets and attorneys alike seem to come down on either side of the improvement debate. I for one would love to see how these stances fall relative to employment, at least where attorneys are concerned. Flipping through commentary on the subject, it just seems that employed attorneys have a lot to say. I am sure that there are a few employed attorneys out there seeking to make lateral moves (although in this economy I am not sure exactly why). As a whole, however, can you really get an accurate feel for the state of a job market if you are not an active participant (i.e., job seeker)?

I won't try to dazzle you with statistics; mostly because they are tough to come by, and largely inaccurate if you can manage to dig some up. Most people reporting on the subject won't even try to codify the jobless numbers of roughly 1% of the economy (there I go breaking out some numbers), and law schools by and large are guarded about placement rates (I mean how can you justify tuition increases if you make these readily available?) I can, however, speak from personal experience. After getting admitted to the Bar, finding attorney jobs to apply for has been a struggle to say the very least. I know, I know, some of you will say that only a very insignificant number of available attorney jobs are advertised. True. I, like all of my unemployed class mates and fellow attorneys, send resumes to any and every law firm, agency, you name it, out there ... unfortunately to no avail. The bottom line is, unless you have at the minimum 2 years of experience and/or a small book of business, you are as they say "boned." Even if the given position is seeking 2+ years of experience, you better believe there is a sizable percentage of applicants waving around 7+.

The stark reality of the situation is that law firms are not withdrawing from campus recruiting for nothing. Further, many of those entry-level jobs of yesteryear are simply not there. Oh you know the ones - those in the public sector that non-top-tier graduates ultimately matriculated from into the private sector. Sure the stimulus has infused state budgets, but to bolster infrastructure. Lets face it, blue collar jobs account for a larger slice of the job market pie, and to be honest I for one am all for the stimulus.

As for my experience, I interned at the Attorney General's Office prior to graduation. I received praise for my work, but qualified with something like "we would love to extend an offer to you, but our budget has been cut," one of those. It wasn't simply that they weren't creating new positions either, but rather that even as people retired old positions were being dissolved. And, I have heard this very same story from many others. I have been officially unemployed for almost a year. My fiance, whom I met in law school, secured employment outside of the legal sector after two years. I know and am aware of a whole host of graduates from my school and others that are going into their third year of unemployment. You heard correctly. I did not stutter.

I don't want readers to get the feeling that this blog is going to be all gloom and doom ... well it is, but there will be bright spots here and there *fingers crossed.* I am simply a realist on the subject, and can't stand seeing the reality of the present state of affairs being glossed over.