Legal News

Looking For Work? NJ May Have An (Unpaid) Opening

By Chris Herring

New Jersey Attorney General Anne Milgram is doing her part to help out the growing legion of unemployed esquires. She has announced that her office is looking to hire lawyers and law grads. Sounds attractive, huh?

Well, there is a slight catch: the gig won’t pay but you can always become a Bon Jovi fan. Click here to read the Star-Ledger story on the program.

Milgram hopes the jobs, which will last a minimum of three months, at 20 hours per week, will find many takers. “This is a great opportunity for qualified candidates to learn how state government works, to gain experience in areas of the law that may be unfamiliar to them, and to make a genuine difference by working on legal matters that impact on New Jersey citizens," she said in a statement. Click here for a more detailed description of the job.

The announcement of the program comes at a time when the state’s Division of Law otherwise wouldn’t get the extra help–the office is under a hiring freeze. Law firms, you may have heard, have also been battered by the recession.

In the past, the New Jersey AG’s office offered volunteer job opportunities to students, but until now, it never pursued law school grads or unemployed lawyers. The job responsibilities, which vary depending on one’s legal experience, range from conducting depositions and writing briefs to doing research with the division’s investigators.

So how about this offer, LBers? Is there enough upside to it?

Photo: Getty Images

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on July 16, 2009 (boomark / email).