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UM Law Student's Tale of Woe

University of Miami School of Law 3L Todd Sussman is about to graduate and isn't all that happy:

I'd always thought about becoming a lawyer, so I started applying to law schools and chose to attend the University of Miami. At first I hesitated to attend a private institution because of their high tuition rates especially in a city like Miami where life can be expensive, but I'm from South Florida and I wanted to be close to home. I wasn't sure how I would pay for it all so I looked into student loans. The financial aid office at UM was very helpful and was able to help me get the money I needed for tuition and living expenses while in school. I knew I would have to pay the money back eventually, but I thought about the earning potential I would have as a lawyer and didn't think I would have any problems paying those loans back. Unfortunately, my plan didn't involve an economic recession.

Now here I stand three months from graduating, $180,000 in debt and no prospects of a job after graduation. I've started reaching out to everyone I know in hopes of finding something to pay the bills after I graduate, but no luck so far.

This is a tough time to be entering the South Florida legal market, though we've been there a few times before.

Todd doesn't write about how he did in school, what he was doing over the summers, and what specific efforts he has made while in school to get a job.

I have to assume he didn't work at a BigLaw firm over the summer, so he's probably not going to be hired by one of them anytime soon.

(Not that they're doing so hot anyways -- H&K is reporting revenue down 10 percent and a 9 percent lawyer reduction with 70 layoffs).

That means hit the pavement, talk to the ham-and-schleppers, expand your options well beyond South Florida, look to teaching, part-time hourly, public service, and other alternatives to traditional post-grad legal entry positions.

Who knows, maybe one of you big-time machers who read this crappy blog will give Todd a hand?

Full post as published by South Florida Lawyers on February 22, 2010 (boomark / email).