Where Are All the Law Students Going?

How odd that at a time when unemployment in law firms is at a peak, and uncertainty about jobs for recent graduates is rife, enrollment at law schools is reported to be rising.

It would be easier to understand if there were signs that the economy were improving at a greater rate than is predicted for the next year or two, but it isn't. Perhaps would-be lawyers are so enamored of the profession that they're willing to take a chance on the future.

More likely, they realize that a law degree is valuable for a variety of alternate professions. Many may feel that as time goes on, the profession will be hiring again, and that a temporary job in another occupation ' even one that doesn't use their degrees ' is worth taking as a holding operation.

But at the same time, a problem in recruiting and legal careers may lie in a mismatch between what lawyers are taught in law school and the practice of law itself. And a mismatch between how students see law firms and how law firms see themselves as employers and managers. Increasingly, today's law firms are in the midst of significant changes, and are moving to new structures and business models to cope with problems of competition and productivity. The demands for superior legal services is not only increasing, but is being shaped by the new sophistication of prospective clients. The concept of value ' value to the clients before value to the firm ' is becoming more pervasive in the profession. Changes in the economic and regulatory environment put the firms with better antennae to those changes in a more competitive position in an increasingly competitive legal world. But unfortunately, with few exceptions, law schools are training lawyers for the legal world of the 1950s.

Law Firm Management and Marketing

At last count, there were possibly as few as three law schools in the country ' I know of no others ' with courses on law firm management and marketing. (I lecture in the management and marketing program run by the brilliant Dr. Silvia Hodges at the Fordham law school.) While many of the students of these courses may be a far cry from management positions, they still come armed with management and marketing principles that may ultimately guide and help their careers.

Good law firms don't always find the best candidates. There is, after all, a limit to the number of law schools a recruiter can visit, and so many good candidates are missed. Recruiting is done by professional recruiters in only the very largest firms, and even they are limited in the ground they can cover. For the others, recruiting is usually done by either lawyers with a subjective and not always accurate view of their own firms' needs, or by professional recruiting firms who have a limited understanding of each firm's culture or the idiosyncrasies of their practices. At a time when firms are limiting their recruiting, a good many candidates are missed. Thus it is and thus it may always be. But not necessarily.

Needs of Firms v. Needs of Students

The noted lawyer/economist/blogger/consultant, Bruce MacEwen (Adam Smith Esq.) has come up with an answer. He's launched a new company, called JD Match, using an advanced mathematical algorithm, that matches the distinctive needs of a law firm with the distinctive talents and needs of individual students. This goes beyond the classic legal recruiting agency approach. MacEwen enlists law firms who supply detailed descriptions of their needs. He enlists students who detail their wishes for the kinds of law firms they would like to work for. Using a complex computer algorithm, he matches the firms with the students that make the best match.

The point is that in today's legal environment, when law firms know they need to hire differently but don't always know quite how, we need new recruiting techniques, new hiring algorithms, new kinds of knowledge.

For the law firm with needs that are not extensive enough to warrant outside recruiting help nor with an extended national reach, there are ways to sharpen job descriptions that make intelligent recruiting more focused and extensive.

Paramount is a realistic view of four factors … 1) The firm's markets, and its needs and skill set to serve that market. This is not often done as meticulously as it should be; 2) The firm's culture and structure. The formal structure of a traditional firm may no longer be relevant to the changing needs of the economic environment and the market it serves; 3) The firm's growth anticipation and objectives. This can often be wishful thinking and astigmatic rather than realistic; and 4) The firm's academic and intellectual requirements. New generations of young lawyers may demand an environment beyond that of the past.

Conclusion

By delineating these factors, and then having the partners define and agree with them, the chances of more successful recruiting improve substantially. The point is that traditional subjective recruiting methods are anachronistic in today's legal and economic environment. Recruiting gets the best candidates by realistically assessing and understanding of its own needs, practices and culture. Today's world demands it.

Bruce W. Marcus, a member of this newsletter's Board of Editors, is a Connecticut-based consultant in marketing and strategic planning for professional firms. E-mail: [email protected]. ' Bruce W. Marcus. All rights reserved.

How odd that at a time when unemployment in law firms is at a peak, and uncertainty about jobs for recent graduates is rife, enrollment at law schools is reported to be rising.

It would be easier to understand if there were signs that the economy were improving at a greater rate than is predicted for the next year or two, but it isn't. Perhaps would-be lawyers are so enamored of the profession that they're willing to take a chance on the future.

More likely, they realize that a law degree is valuable for a variety of alternate professions. Many may feel that as time goes on, the profession will be hiring again, and that a temporary job in another occupation ' even one that doesn't use their degrees ' is worth taking as a holding operation.

But at the same time, a problem in recruiting and legal careers may lie in a mismatch between what lawyers are taught in law school and the practice of law itself. And a mismatch between how students see law firms and how law firms see themselves as employers and managers. Increasingly, today's law firms are in the midst of significant changes, and are moving to new structures and business models to cope with problems of competition and productivity. The demands for superior legal services is not only increasing, but is being shaped by the new sophistication of prospective clients. The concept of value ' value to the clients before value to the firm ' is becoming more pervasive in the profession. Changes in the economic and regulatory environment put the firms with better antennae to those changes in a more competitive position in an increasingly competitive legal world. But unfortunately, with few exceptions, law schools are training lawyers for the legal world of the 1950s.

Law Firm Management and Marketing

At last count, there were possibly as few as three law schools in the country ' I know of no others ' with courses on law firm management and marketing. (I lecture in the management and marketing program run by the brilliant Dr. Silvia Hodges at the Fordham law school.) While many of the students of these courses may be a far cry from management positions, they still come armed with management and marketing principles that may ultimately guide and help their careers.

Good law firms don't always find the best candidates. There is, after all, a limit to the number of law schools a recruiter can visit, and so many good candidates are missed. Recruiting is done by professional recruiters in only the very largest firms, and even they are limited in the ground they can cover. For the others, recruiting is usually done by either lawyers with a subjective and not always accurate view of their own firms' needs, or by professional recruiting firms who have a limited understanding of each firm's culture or the idiosyncrasies of their practices. At a time when firms are limiting their recruiting, a good many candidates are missed. Thus it is and thus it may always be. But not necessarily.

Needs of Firms v. Needs of Students

The noted lawyer/economist/blogger/consultant, Bruce MacEwen (Adam Smith Esq.) has come up with an answer. He's launched a new company, called JD Match, using an advanced mathematical algorithm, that matches the distinctive needs of a law firm with the distinctive talents and needs of individual students. This goes beyond the classic legal recruiting agency approach. MacEwen enlists law firms who supply detailed descriptions of their needs. He enlists students who detail their wishes for the kinds of law firms they would like to work for. Using a complex computer algorithm, he matches the firms with the students that make the best match.

The point is that in today's legal environment, when law firms know they need to hire differently but don't always know quite how, we need new recruiting techniques, new hiring algorithms, new kinds of knowledge.

For the law firm with needs that are not extensive enough to warrant outside recruiting help nor with an extended national reach, there are ways to sharpen job descriptions that make intelligent recruiting more focused and extensive.

Paramount is a realistic view of four factors … 1) The firm's markets, and its needs and skill set to serve that market. This is not often done as meticulously as it should be; 2) The firm's culture and structure. The formal structure of a traditional firm may no longer be relevant to the changing needs of the economic environment and the market it serves; 3) The firm's growth anticipation and objectives. This can often be wishful thinking and astigmatic rather than realistic; and 4) The firm's academic and intellectual requirements. New generations of young lawyers may demand an environment beyond that of the past.

Conclusion

By delineating these factors, and then having the partners define and agree with them, the chances of more successful recruiting improve substantially. The point is that traditional subjective recruiting methods are anachronistic in today's legal and economic environment. Recruiting gets the best candidates by realistically assessing and understanding of its own needs, practices and culture. Today's world demands it.

Bruce W. Marcus, a member of this newsletter's Board of Editors, is a Connecticut-based consultant in marketing and strategic planning for professional firms. E-mail: [email protected]. ' Bruce W. Marcus. All rights reserved.