Best Bet for Finding A Legal Job After Law School: Bet On Yourself

Although employment prospects for new law grads are showing signs of life, overall post-graduation employment remains at a dismal  56 percent average rate for all law schools.  And while connections, solid skills and networking can improve the odds of finding a position , your best bet for finding a job after law school may just be to bet on yourself.

That’s what enterprising University of Pittsburgh 3-Ls, Marlene van Es and Jaclyn Clifford are doing, reports the Post Gazette. Come November 2015 when they’re licensed to practice, the pair will hit the ground running at Trellis, an unconventional law firm that will specialize in urban agriculture and food policy.  Already van Es and Clifford are showing that they’re as much entrepreneurs as lawyers, availing themselves of start-up competitions and crowd funding sites (I was so inspired that I contributed here) and devising unique pricing structures like subscription models (to do it ethically, see my post here).

Starting a non-profit law firm isn’t necessarily a new idea – I’ve blogged about it here. But what is new is a next generation of lawyers like these lawyers or this lawyer and putting it out into the world. Who knows if these non-profits will sink or swim – and does it matter?  When you’re young, time is on your side – and starting a venture born of passion and purpose will make you will forever surprise you, but it will also make you fearless for the rest of your career.