New Limited Edition Humor Print Commissioned! April 9, 2025
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This print has many hidden details in its characters and colorful environment. The major theme depicted is the struggle of the young lawyer in today’s economic downturn. Click here for an explanation of the key features.
11 Things you might not have thought of when writing your legal resume April 9, 2025
Posted by admin in : Uncategorized , View CommentsMelissa Kaplan has spent six years working in the recruiting departments at some of the nation’s top law firms including Simpson Thatcher, White & Case and Sonnenschein. She has been helping attorneys prepare their resumes and prepare for interviews for over 10 years.
- Your resume should be ONE page long. The only exceptions are very senior-level attorneys and CV’s written for non-U.S. positions. (Honestly, employers will never get to that second page!)
- Your resume can be in bullet point format or paragraph format. Not both. Pick one and stick to it!
- If you’ve been out of school more than five years, your education needs to be AFTER your work experience.
- Once you’ve graduated law school, honors from college should be kept to a minimum. You should only include things that are easily recognized (Phi Beta Kappa, for example) or are directly pertinent to your job search (for example – if you’re applying to an intellectual property position and you won an award for a scientific-related accomplishment, you can include that).
- Make sure that your verb tenses are correct – your current job should be in present tense, all prior jobs in past tense. (There are exceptions – for example, if, at your current job, you completed a specific project or worked on a specific case that will not be repeated, you can put that in the past tense.)
- If you are going to use your cell phone number for employers to contact you, make sure that when you answer any call, you can focus on the call. Employers will be very annoyed if they have to shout “Can you interview on Thursday at 4?” over and over again because you answered your cell phone on the subway platform.
- If you are currently employed, do NOT use your work email address for any job related emails.
- Attorneys/Law Students: Only include your GPA if it was 3.4 or better. And don’t try to tweak it to make it look better than it was – employers will request a transcript before an offer is made, and getting caught will likely result in you not getting an offer!
- Feel free to include volunteer activities, awards and interests, but not at the expense of substantive job descriptions. However, understand that your non-work activities may not match up politically or ethically with your employer. (For example, if you volunteered for a political campaign, your interviewer might have supported the other candidate. It might make for an interesting discussion at an interview, or it might lead to your resume not being selected.)
- PDF your resume before you send it. If an employer has a different version of Microsoft Word, your spacing could easily get messed up and it looks unprofessional.
- Computer ate your resume? If you lost access to your resume for whatever reason call your previous employer – companies are required, by law, to hold on to you personnel file for 7 years. Ask them to send you a hard copy – you can at least re-type your old information so you don’t have to start from scratch!
Let Melissa help you with your legal resume at www.joblesslawyer.com !
Copyright Melissa Pollack 2009
The 2009 ABA Journal Top 100 “Blawgs” (Blogs) April 9, 2025
Posted by admin in : Uncategorized , View CommentsThe editors of the ABA Journal have selected the 100 best Web sites by lawyers and for lawyers. Joblesslawyer.com is proud to have included in this elite list.
The ABA has invited readers to vote for their favorite blogs from among the top 100 in each of 10 categories. Voting ends December 31. Winners will be featured in the February issue of the Journal.
Hiatus Explained November 27, 2010
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My loyal fans, it’s been almost a year since I last posted to joblesslawyer- the reason why I have been missing in action is because shortly after my last post I was no longer jobless ! I have now been gainfully employed for nearly a year working at a small litigation boutique firm in Manhattan.
I want to thank everyone for their positive comments and I hope that I was able to add some levity, comfort or both to those battling through this dismal market for lawyers that we are currently in.
I have been contemplating the future of the blog and I have determined that it would be extremely difficult (if not impossible) for an employed lawyer (with a 2200 billable hours requirement) to regularly blog about being unemployed. It is with this in mind that I suggest that the joblesslawyer.com community take over the site.
If I can sign up a few contributors that share the mission of the site- and don’t take themselves too seriously we can continue to provide interesting content to those who follow joblesslawyer.com.
If you have an entertaining story that you would like to share (either by name or anonymously) or would like to regularly contribute to the site please email me at joblesslawyer@gmail.com.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT AND KEEP YOUR CHIN UP – I’M CONFIDENT YOU WILL EITHER FIND SOMETHING OR PERHAPS BE INSPIRED TO START DOWN A NEW AND BETTER PATH.
PLEASE NOTE THE JOBLESSLAWYER RESUME REVIEW SERVICE IS STILL UP AND RUNNING AND HAS SERVED DOZENS UPON DOZENS OF ATTORNEYS SINCE ITS INCEPTION.
Recession Job Search Tips for the Unemployed Lawyer- Creating a Job “Surge” December 1, 2009
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The beginning of November marked my ninth month of unemployment. Up until the end of October I had a total of 4.6 interviews during my employment stint. Under my calculus an interview receives a full point when 1) an actual opportunity to interview is provided, and 2) the interview entails the possibility (however slim) of actual obtaining a position. Mind you, this is not a tough rubric, in fact under these rules, even if the pay offered is offensive, or if the work is part time and even contract based— a full point can be awarded– as long as the interview is conducted in good faith and a legitimate opportunity to compete for a position exists.
The 2009 ABA Journal Top 100 “Blawgs” (Blogs) December 1, 2009
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The editors of the ABA Journal have selected the 100 best Web sites by lawyers and for lawyers. Joblesslawyer.com is proud to have included in this list !!!
PLEASE VOTE FOR US AND WIN A FREE HUMOR PRINT !!
(instructions below)
We received this in an e-mail yesterday:
Congratulations. Your blawg has been selected as one of the ABA Journal‘s Blawg 100. Our annual list of the best of the blawgosphere appears in the December issue of the magazine, and was posted online today.
The ABA has invited readers to vote for their favorite blogs from among the top 100 in each of 10 categories. Voting ends December 31. Winners will be featured in the February issue of the Journal.
Please show your support and vote here: http://www.abajournal.com/blawg100/2009/careers !
To show our appreciation for your vote we are giving away a free humor print for every 50 votes we receive (max 5). Those who sign up to vote for the Top 100 Blogs are eligible for the drawing, winners will choose which humor print they would like to receive. To participate send a screenshot of the “Enclosed is your activation code” e-mail sent from “webmaster@abajournal.com” after registering to vote on the ABA website (free) on or before December 31, 2009 to joblesslawyer@gmail.com.
October Caption Contest Winner! December 1, 2009
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Staying Positive- How To Think Like a Lawyer (even during a recession) November 9, 2009
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There is a tendency to become overwhelmed by negativity during a period of prolonged unemployment. Skills inevitably dwindle as they are not being used, confidence declines, levels of self-esteem and motivation similarly become depressed. Through it all however I have never doubted my decision to go to law school. I knew since before I was 10 years old I wanted to be a lawyer (the baby lawyer mobile pictured was actually attached to my crib… only kidding). I always wished there was some mandatory “pre-law” track that those of us committed to the study of law could have used to separate ourselves out from the philosophy, classics, and political science majors that took the LSAT only upon a realization that their degree did not prepare them for employment they had hoped in the real-world.
Humor Print #4 “Law School Diploma Mills” November 9, 2009
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In this humor print, a law school pops out newly minted attorneys in record rates with little concern for job prospects but with absolute concern for their bottom line. Click here to view larger version or buy a print.
Humor Print #3: “Bar Troubles” November 3, 2009
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In this humor print, an attorney who recently passed the bar exam and faced with a doom and gloom economy finds solace at a different kind of “bar.” View it here.
