Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dept of VA might is hiring a ton of lawyers in the next 6 months - like enough to start a medium to large sized law firm.

Do they pay well?

They are only hiring entry level - usually GS11. I only know of one person who was able to negotiate coming in at a GS12 but she had been clerking prior. You do move up pretty quickly though.

Anonymous wrote:Dept of VA might is hiring a ton of lawyers in the next 6 months - like enough to start a medium to large sized law firm.

Do they pay well?

Dept of VA might is hiring a ton of lawyers in the next 6 months - like enough to start a medium to large sized law firm.

Thanks 16:53! Sadly I fall more into example 2, so I really am starting over. I would love to give more details to get some help but if I say much more I may be outed and it is a small field.

The skills I could market sound so basic (writing, research) that every lawyer has them and none would fit the 5+ years of experience that so many jobs require. And you are right, I cannot afford to take a non-paid gig right now.

If it would not give too much away, why don't you tell us what your specialized skills are and we can help?

Op, no advice but I'm in the same boat. Also a lawyer but now looking around and wondering if my "skills" are really skills at all. I have also had a very specific career path and now as I try to broaden out, I'm not sure I have the traditional lawyering skills required. Good luck.

Volunteering MIGHT (I assume you mean taking cases pro bono; not offering to work in a law firm or corporate law department for free). No one except the Bar cares about CLEs. If you gain real experience that translates into something else, then that can be marketable. Of course, that's not a quick fix--if you're doing it around your day job, it could take years. But it can be done.

Also, if you can afford it, special AUSA positions CAN lead to other jobs. But as I'm sure I don't have to tell you, leaving a paid gig for a non-paid gig is a very high risk proposition--especially in this economy.

OP, when you say specialized, do you mean substantive or procedurally (i.e., you're (1) litigating before a weird agency no one's heard of, or (2) you're an expert at getting the form for filing filimaboggys before the KLSJFDJKLF Agency)? If the former, it might be easier to translate your experience into another field. If the latter, you're basically starting over.

I am a lawyer and would like to switch jobs. Unfortunately, on brushing up my resume and starting to search for jobs, I realize that I am not really qualified for anything. I have worked in the same position for 10 years but it is a highly specialized field that really is marketable to possibly one other law-job. What can I do to gain marketable skills? Will taking CLEs help? volunteering?