How a Law Firm 'Test Drive' Put SMU Grad in an Associate's Chair, Along with Many Classmates
Last spring, Tim Hardesty wasn’t having any luck looking for a legal job as he completed his third year at Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law.
But an innovative law school “test drive” program put him at Barnett McNair Hall, after the Dallas estate-planning firm agreed to accept $3,500 to let Hardesty work there for a month and see if he was a good fit. The hope was that the tryout, which basically amounted to a one-month job interview, would persuade the firm to hire Hardesty as an associate—and it did, reports the National Law Journal.
Although some critics saw the program as a cynical move to improve the law school’s placement statistics with make-work, it has, in fact, been astonishingly successful, helping 35 of 48 grads who did a “test drive” win a job offer.
“I would have been really happy with 10 permanent jobs coming out of Test Drive,” says law school dean John Attanasio. “We’re delighted with the thing. Basically, we thought this would empower students to go out and seek jobs, and they did.”
Related coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “Law Schools Try Helping Grads by Raising Grades, Paying Firms for ‘Test Drives’”
