JD preferred jobs

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What about legal aid or public interest where you feel purposeful and do doc review on the side if those jobs don't pay enough? Maybe a short something where you interact with more people to help w your depression. You've applied to fed jobs, but what about local government? Is it possible to do doc review part time to supplement?

for local government I only could apply in DC as I’m not licensed in md or va. But unlikely they’d take me as a lawyer anyways so I shall look for non lawyer jobs locally. Have done it before but no success there either

to be blunt, I've hired for non-attorney positions (paralegals, clerks) and we wouldn't touch an attorney with this much legal experience. We've been burned by sad sacks with a sense of entitlement and no work ethic and it's not worth it when there are hard workers happy to take the job

how do you know I don’t have a sense of entitlement and no work ethic? Is wanting a career a sense of entitlement?

[Anonymous]

Options:

1. Start volunteering at legal aid pro bono to get some lawyering experience under supervision. They have training programs specific to the advice you will be giving. Here is a link to training if you are in DC: https://www.dcbar.org/pro-bono/resources-and-training

2. HR certification: Get an entry level job in HR, do it for one year and then start the process to become certified. Once you do that you can move up the ranks in HR and your law degree will be of value. https://www.shrm.org/certification/about/Pages/Not-Sure-Where-To-Begin.aspx

3. Start attending every and any training sessions available at your bar association. This is about training and networking.

4. Invest in your next step: get a masters degree in legal studies in a compliance area that interests you. Health care is an excellent and extremely marketable choice, and you can do it on line: https://www.online.drexel.edu/online-degrees/law-degrees/cert-hc-comp/index.aspx

Take control and take action. Also consider seeing your doctor for depression.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Options:

1. Start volunteering at legal aid pro bono to get some lawyering experience under supervision. They have training programs specific to the advice you will be giving. Here is a link to training if you are in DC: https://www.dcbar.org/pro-bono/resources-and-training

2. HR certification: Get an entry level job in HR, do it for one year and then start the process to become certified. Once you do that you can move up the ranks in HR and your law degree will be of value. https://www.shrm.org/certification/about/Pages/Not-Sure-Where-To-Begin.aspx

3. Start attending every and any training sessions available at your bar association. This is about training and networking.

4. Invest in your next step: get a masters degree in legal studies in a compliance area that interests you. Health care is an excellent and extremely marketable choice, and you can do it on line: https://www.online.drexel.edu/online-degrees/law-degrees/cert-hc-comp/index.aspx

Take control and take action. Also consider seeing your doctor for depression.

thanks ! I’ll look to see if MD has a similar program. If I have to go back to school I really need to do in state tuition

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What about legal aid or public interest where you feel purposeful and do doc review on the side if those jobs don't pay enough? Maybe a short something where you interact with more people to help w your depression. You've applied to fed jobs, but what about local government? Is it possible to do doc review part time to supplement?

for local government I only could apply in DC as I’m not licensed in md or va. But unlikely they’d take me as a lawyer anyways so I shall look for non lawyer jobs locally. Have done it before but no success there either

to be blunt, I've hired for non-attorney positions (paralegals, clerks) and we wouldn't touch an attorney with this much legal experience. We've been burned by sad sacks with a sense of entitlement and no work ethic and it's not worth it when there are hard workers happy to take the job

how do you know I don’t have a sense of entitlement and no work ethic? Is wanting a career a sense of entitlement?

I have no idea if you do or not, I do know our organization has had bad experiences with people with similar resumes in the past

[Anonymous]

What type of skills do you bring to document review? Because those skills are translatable. You just seem to have an inability to think outside of the box.

[Anonymous]

What do you consider your marketable skills other than having a JD after your last name? Seriously there has to be something? Can you start a small business?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What type of skills do you bring to document review? Because those skills are translatable. You just seem to have an inability to think outside of the box.

Attention to detail. That’s about it. I’m good at document review. Many people in document review are not good at document review.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What about legal aid or public interest where you feel purposeful and do doc review on the side if those jobs don't pay enough? Maybe something where you interact with more people to help w your depression. You've applied to fed jobs, but what about local government? Is it possible to do doc review part time to supplement?

Those are competitive jobs. OP will not be competitive, unfortunately.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What type of skills do you bring to document review? Because those skills are translatable. You just seem to have an inability to think outside of the box.

Attention to detail. That’s about it. I’m good at document review. Many people in document review are not good at document review.

there is no such thing as good at document review. It is a service that most clients would appreciate being fast and cheap rather than expensive and perfect

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What type of skills do you bring to document review? Because those skills are translatable. You just seem to have an inability to think outside of the box.

Attention to detail. That’s about it. I’m good at document review. Many people in document review are not good at document review.

there is no such thing as good at document review. It is a service that most clients would appreciate being fast and cheap rather than expensive and perfect

so why do QCers like me exist?

[Anonymous]

I've known of two people who, in the three years have been on your path and gotten off. Both were contract law clerks for DOJ; both has given up hope of using their JDs. Both ended up working for the client agency; one of the two started in a non-attorney/compliance position that turned into an attorney/compliance job with a firm.

I have interviewed for 10+ attorney positions over the last two years. The number of resumes that have your credentials are the plurality.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What type of skills do you bring to document review? Because those skills are translatable. You just seem to have an inability to think outside of the box.

Attention to detail. That’s about it. I’m good at document review. Many people in document review are not good at document review.

there is no such thing as good at document review. It is a service that most clients would appreciate being fast and cheap rather than expensive and perfect

so why do QCers like me exist?

because everyone has to pretend they care. If they really cared QCers would be well paid and valued and not a dead end. Has a doc review QCer ever made partner?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What about legal aid or public interest where you feel purposeful and do doc review on the side if those jobs don't pay enough? Maybe something where you interact with more people to help w your depression. You've applied to fed jobs, but what about local government? Is it possible to do doc review part time to supplement?

Doc review jobs are full time for the duration. There isn’t part time doc review. I wish I could afford to do what you suggest but I barely get by as it is. I’ve lived like a pauper the past 17 years

Do you work for a doc review entity? Maybe try to do doc review for a law firm instead to get your foot in the door. Is e-discovery the same thing as document review?

terrible advice. you don't "get your foot in the door" of a law firm doing document review for it. you don't understand how it works.

[Anonymous]

I hire government information specialists (FOIA) and I think that would be great for both someone who does doc review and ediscovery. But you aren't going to get a government job with no FOIA experience. Get a job at a contracting agency and work as a contractor for a few years and then transition to a fed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Options:

1. Start volunteering at legal aid pro bono to get some lawyering experience under supervision. They have training programs specific to the advice you will be giving. Here is a link to training if you are in DC: https://www.dcbar.org/pro-bono/resources-and-training

2. HR certification: Get an entry level job in HR, do it for one year and then start the process to become certified. Once you do that you can move up the ranks in HR and your law degree will be of value. https://www.shrm.org/certification/about/Pages/Not-Sure-Where-To-Begin.aspx

3. Start attending every and any training sessions available at your bar association. This is about training and networking.

4. Invest in your next step: get a masters degree in legal studies in a compliance area that interests you. Health care is an excellent and extremely marketable choice, and you can do it on line: https://www.online.drexel.edu/online-degrees/law-degrees/cert-hc-comp/index.aspx

Take control and take action. Also consider seeing your doctor for depression.

Great advice. I would just say that this needs a kind of drive that is very different from a person who has been content to doc review for as long as you have. I would see a therapist so that you can talk through the inevitable issues that will come with this great of a change.