Career Confusion for 140 NYU 3Ls Deferred By Fall Employers
Confusion reigned yesterday at a career fair put together on short notice to help nearly one-third of the graduating class at New York University School of Law find work. After lining up law firm jobs for the fall months ago, many are now seeking substitute work with nonprofit employers after having their start dates deferred.
About 140 of the school’s 500 graduating 3Ls have had their start dates deferred at least one year, according to Irene Dorzback, the law school’s assistant dean of career services. And others—she doesn’t know exactly how many—will start in January 2010 rather than this fall, reports the Am Law Daily.
The good news is that a number of private nonprofits in New York apparently are eager to hire graduating NYU students, especially those being offered generous deferral packages by the law firms that are postponing their start dates, the law blog reports.
However, because many law firms are still determining specifics of their deferral programs, nonprofits—and 3Ls—are having difficulty figuring out logistics of a potential one-year work stint. Will the deferring law firm pay for malpractice coverage, for instance? What about medical insurance?
And, as many nonprofits cut hiring because of reduced budgets and lower attrition resulting from the same dismal economy that has lessened the workloads at major law firms, a number of law students, especially at less elite schools, are still looking for jobs, reports the New York Law Journal.
One 26-year-old third-year at an unidentified law school says she would like to stay in New York and work in a public sector job but can’t afford to with $170,000 in educational debt, the legal publication reports. “I just can’t take a job that pays so little,” she says, explaining that she is looking for work in other states.
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