[deepimpact2]

Originally Posted by Kevin

I know lawyers who office out of their apartments. And generally to join a federal Bar Association or for State dues, it's only around $200 or so, which just about anyone can scrounge up or put on a credit card.

As far as getting on that list, if it's through the Federal Public Defender's office, I doubt that costs anything. If it's a fairly uniform system (and I'm guessing that's the case), then you just get in contact with the public defender, sit second-chair on something that goes to trial and you're ready to go. Doesn't pay great, but it pays.

Something I know a few lawyers do is just hang out in the courtroom at the criminal arraignment dockets and get appointed to represent (for a fee, of course) whatever unrepresented criminal defendants happen to be there that day. In fact, there are a few folks around here who I'm pretty sure do only that and don't actually even have offices.

And once you're a member of the federal Bar, get some good bankruptcy software and that can be a lucrative and easy field to make money in. As a lawyer, you're never unemployed because if you do a good job networking (note: networking means not networking with other lawyers, church, rotary, etc., are much more reliable ways to pick up clients).

Also, if you can get a simple website online, once you get it indexed well with the search engines, you'll be able to bring in quite a few cases that way. In this profession, getting a job with some big firm is highly overrated. Starting solo, you'll make a lot less money in the short run, but in the long run, in terms of stress and even money, you're more than likely going to come out ahead.

great post.

I especially agree with the part in bold. That has been my mantra for the last year or so while my classmates are ignoring decent opportunities in their desperate attempts to get big firm jobs. While I disagree with some of your assessments, I do know that in looking at my classmates, many of them are not working to make good choices. They have their eyes set on a big firm job and won't even CONSIDER going solo after graduation. They wont even consider a Legal Aid job as a starting point just to pay bills.