The Great Law School and Law Firm Scam
Disregard Anything Positive I’ve Ever Said About Contract Attorney Work – I’ve Finally Come To My Senses
It has been over a year since I posted here and much has happened. For one thing, I’m no longer a contract attorney. In fact, I’m not even practicing law anymore, although I’ve held onto my two existing bar memberships, paying the annual dues for old times sake – perhaps just so I can continue to call myself a lawyer (for whatever it’s worth).
Since then, I’ve moved onto other lines of work – most notably I’ve started several online businesses – and have found the Internet to be quite a treasure trove of money making opportunities. It hasn’t been easy, but I’ve managed to do quite well online.
For my fellow contract attorneys and tempers still working the salt mines of click-click land, my advice is to get out while you still can. Times are bleak, pay is low, and working hours are getting shorter by the minute – but the legal working situation for temp attorneys is also not going to get any better anytime soon. Contract attorney work is not only a dead end job career wise – but it’ll suck out your soul, pummel your pride, and leave you financially depleted years from now. If you can, try to strike it out on your own as a full fledge attorney. I know it’s incredibly difficult to compete in a market that’s super saturated and getting worse every day, but you must try – for sanity sake. I continue to curse the law school system to this day and continuously pray for numerous plagues to afflict the overrated law firms that choke our social system – but at some point, it’s time to move on to greener (or in my case, less-brownish) pastures.
And read Tom The Temp’s blog regularly – he’s a morbid dose of social pessimissm and legal comedy for contract attorneys all rolled into one. He’ll bring you down and pick you up at the same time. Misery always loves company and there’s plenty of misery to go around.
March 24th, 2009 at 9:50 am
Most excellent post, Joe. Glad (and completely not surprised) to hear that you’re finding success with your online ventures!
March 24th, 2009 at 3:18 pm
Hey there.
I must say. I stumbled on your blog when doing some research into whether or not I should apply to law school. I’ve enjoyed the archives and was pleasantly surprised to see you have a new post.
Here is the cool part, you described on one of your posts this environment of computers, contracts, and people shopping online – and it hit me. All these people are shopping online. So what did I do instead of law school?
Turns out the same thing you did.
I’d love to hear more about your online ventures, as I have begun diving in myself. I’m in DC. dupont.
Best.
April 4th, 2009 at 4:38 pm
Good luck with your ventures! I’ll miss your posts.
April 5th, 2009 at 10:45 am
please explain further. your site has been one of the only sites i have read that stated this was a decent field. i was considering moving down to DC after school to temp for a while. please explain further, e.g., pay, hours, whatever it is that has changed your mind. thanks.
May 13th, 2009 at 2:49 pm
Aren’t flat rates for temp jobs illegal according to US Labor laws??
http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/uscode05/usc_sec_05_00005542—-000-.html
§ 5542. Overtime rates; computation
(a) For full-time, part-time and intermittent tours of duty, hours of work officially ordered or approved in excess of 40 hours in an administrative workweek, or (with the exception of an employee engaged in professional or technical engineering or scientific activities for whom the first 40 hours of duty in an administrative workweek is the basic workweek and an employee whose basic pay exceeds the minimum rate for GS–10 (including any applicable locality-based comparability payment under section 5304 or similar provision of law and any applicable special rate of pay under section 5305 or similar provision of law) for whom the first 40 hours of duty in an administrative workweek is the basic workweek) in excess of 8 hours in a day, performed by an employee are overtime work and shall be paid for, except as otherwise provided by this subchapter, at the following rates:
(1) For an employee whose basic pay is at a rate which does not exceed the minimum rate of basic pay for GS–10 (including any applicable locality-based comparability payment under section 5304 or similar provision of law and any applicable special rate of pay under section 5305 or similar provision of law), the overtime hourly rate of pay is an amount equal to one and one-half times the hourly rate of basic pay of the employee, and all that amount is premium pay.
(2) For an employee whose basic pay is at a rate which exceeds the minimum rate of basic pay for GS–10 (including any applicable locality-based comparability payment under section 5304 or similar provision of law and any applicable special rate of pay under section 5305 or similar provision of law), the overtime hourly rate of pay is an amount equal to the greater of one and one-half times the hourly rate of the minimum rate of basic pay for GS–10 (including any applicable locality-based comparability payment under section 5304 or similar provision of law and any applicable special rate of pay under section 5305 or similar provision of law) or the hourly rate of basic pay of the employee, and all that amount is premium pay.
(3) Notwithstanding paragraphs (1) and (2) of this subsection for an employee of the Department of Transportation who occupies a nonmanagerial position in GS–14 or under and, as determined by the Secretary of Transportation,
(A) the duties of which are critical to the immediate daily operation of the air traffic control system, directly affect aviation safety, and involve physical or mental strain or hardship;
(B) in which overtime work is therefore unusually taxing; and
(C) in which operating requirements cannot be met without substantial overtime work;
the overtime hourly rate of pay is an amount equal to one and one-half times the hourly rate of basic pay of the employee, and all that amount is premium pay.
(4) Notwithstanding paragraph (2) of this subsection, for an employee who is a law enforcement officer, and whose basic pay is at a rate which exceeds the minimum rate of basic pay for GS–10 (including any applicable locality-based comparability payment under section 5304 or similar provision of law and any applicable special rate of pay under section 5305 or similar provision of law), the overtime hourly rate of pay is an amount equal to the greater of—
(A) one and one-half times the minimum hourly rate of basic pay for GS–10 (including any applicable locality-based comparability payment under section 5304 or similar provision of law and any applicable special rate of pay under section 5305 or similar provision of law); or
(B) the hourly rate of basic pay of the employee,
and all that amount is premium pay.
(5) Notwithstanding paragraphs (1) and (2), for an employee of the Department of the Interior or the United States Forest Service in the Department of Agriculture engaged in emergency wildland fire suppression activities, the overtime hourly rate of pay is an amount equal to one and one-half times the hourly rate of basic pay of the employee, and all that amount is premium pay.
(b) For the purpose of this subchapter—
(1) unscheduled overtime work performed by an employee on a day when work was not scheduled for him, or for which he is required to return to his place of employment, is deemed at least 2 hours in duration; and
(2) time spent in a travel status away from the official-duty station of an employee is not hours of employment unless—
(A) the time spent is within the days and hours of the regularly scheduled administrative workweek of the employee, including regularly scheduled overtime hours; or
(B) the travel
(i) involves the performance of work while traveling,
(ii) is incident to travel that involves the performance of work while traveling,
(iii) is carried out under arduous conditions, or
(iv) results from an event which could not be scheduled or controlled administratively, including travel by an employee to such an event and the return of such employee from such event to his or her official-duty station.
(c) Subsection (a) shall not apply to an employee who is subject to the overtime pay provisions of section 7 of the Fair labor [1] Standards Act of 1938. In the case of an employee who would, were it not for the preceding sentence, be subject to this section, the Office of Personnel Management shall by regulation prescribe what hours shall be deemed to be hours of work and what hours of work shall be deemed to be overtime hours for the purpose of such section 7 so as to ensure that no employee receives less pay by reason of the preceding sentence.
(d) In applying subsection (a) of this section with respect to any criminal investigator who is paid availability pay under section 5545a—
(1) such investigator shall be compensated under such subsection (a), at the rates there provided, for overtime work which is scheduled in advance of the administrative workweek—
(A) in excess of 10 hours on a day during such investigator’s basic 40 hour workweek; or
(B) on a day outside such investigator’s basic 40 hour workweek; and
(2) such investigator shall be compensated for all other overtime work under section 5545a.
(e) Notwithstanding subsection (d)(1) of this section, all hours of overtime work scheduled in advance of the administrative workweek shall be compensated under subsection (a) if that work involves duties as authorized by section 3056 (a) of title 18 or section 37(a)(3) of the State Department Basic Authorities Act of 1956, and if the investigator performs, on that same day, at least 2 hours of overtime work not scheduled in advance of the administrative workweek.
(f) In applying subsection (a) of this section with respect to a firefighter who is subject to section 5545b—
(1) such subsection shall be deemed to apply to hours of work officially ordered or approved in excess of 106 hours in a biweekly pay period, or, if the agency establishes a weekly basis for overtime pay computation, in excess of 53 hours in an administrative workweek; and
(2) the overtime hourly rate of pay is an amount equal to one and one-half times the hourly rate of basic pay under section 5545b (b)(1)(A) or (c)(1)(B), as applicable, and such overtime hourly rate of pay may not be less than such hourly rate of basic pay in applying the limitation on the overtime rate provided in paragraph (2) of such subsection (a).
June 2nd, 2009 at 4:34 pm
What kind of online ventures have made you money?
August 18th, 2009 at 10:28 pm
what law school did you go to?
August 21st, 2009 at 10:42 pm
Great blog. Thanks for the post and that’s awesome you found something. As a fellow attorney who’s done much doc reviewing, I’m so curious–you mentioned the low pay, hours, etc. etc. but what was the final straw that made you say, I’ve gotta get out of this?
September 12th, 2009 at 2:10 pm
I hired Lisa Goddard and Gikas AN ATTORNEY AT Georgetown Texas on July 2008, signed a contract and at that time she asked for a retainer of thousands of dollars
Lisa Goddard and Gikas after reviewing the documents, she made all types of promises
Lisa Goddard and Gikas time went by, and she started to not show up for the appointments we had, refuse to answer the phone calls, and simply, all her promises were not done
Lisa Goddard and Gikas breach of duty to her clients, breach of ethics, simply did not dod any work
The mistake to hire Lisa Goddard and Gikas, and after over a year, cost me dearly, the loss of my property, the loss of my rights, the loss of my son,
Lisa Goddard and Gikas is a truly deceptive attorney, who makes promises, charges money and does not do any work.
Lisa Goddard and Gikas has failed to reply or send bills, simply stolen the money sent to her
Lisa Goddard and Gikas never took any action, never did any work, and simply took the money
Lisa Goddard and Gikas will permanently harm your life if you decide to hire her, BEWARE.
October 15th, 2009 at 5:32 am
Joblesslawyer.com, just released a cartoon I think your readers might relate to. Its title “Document Review Monkeys.” It was based off of a situation described in a Tome the Temp Post. But anyone who has done temp work before will get a good chuckle:
http://joblesslawyer.com/cartoons/101209-humor-print-1-document-review-monkeys/
December 7th, 2009 at 2:12 pm
I’m lucky I didn’t fall victim to this. I am an aspiring attorney, I’m in the process of applying to grad school right now, and this stuff scares me. This article has some pretty cool information on the subject of attorneys if there is anyone out there in my position who is looking for such information.
/www.life123.com/career-money/careers/lawyers/how-much-do-attorneys-get-paid.shtml
December 24th, 2009 at 12:34 am
Oh boy oh boy! Law School = Biggest Mistake Ever!! Do not go believe me it is not worth the anguish, money, foregone income you could have been making. Law school is a scam and the government needs to step in and do something.
January 11th, 2010 at 1:26 am
Thanks for the post and that’s awesome you found something. As a fellow attorney who’s done much doc reviewing, I’m so curious–you mentioned the low pay, hours, etc. etc. but what was the final straw that made you say, I’ve gotta get out of this?
January 19th, 2010 at 12:13 pm
As a doc reviewer of four years, I realized long ago I should never have gone to law school.