Careers
Laid Off? Work for Us for No Pay, Legal Job Ad Suggests
Posted Feb 5, 2009 6:10 PM CST
By Martha Neil
Taking advantage of a tough job market, an Illinois nonprofit is advertising for volunteer lawyers.
"CARPLS Legal Aid is looking to put unemployed attorneys to work counseling the growing number of low-income families who are urgently in need of help during these difficult economic times," the agency reports in a Jan. 26 press release (a similar posting can be found on its website). "The new project, named CARPLS Works, asks licensed Illinois attorneys to volunteer on the CARPLS hotline for four hours each week on a morning or afternoon shift."
Recent ads on Craiglist and other Internet sites on a recent Thursday resulted in some 35 responses by the next day, according to the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin (sub. req.). The first was from a lawyer complaining about the request for free work; however, the others were interested in volunteering.
Although there is no pay, malpractice coverage is provided, and the volunteer work offers valuable training, experience and networking opportunities, CARPLS says.
Hat tip: Above the Law.
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Comments
B. McLeod
Feb 5, 2009 6:26 PM CST
Yup. This is why law firms could fill out their whole “associate” force right now with $40,000 salaries, if they but choose to do it.
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JN
Feb 6, 2009 10:59 AM CST
As an attorney in my first year of practice, I found that most job offers short of those you’d find at silk stocking firms hovered around the $40,000 mark. Some quoted even less to start. Cinch it up and hunker down, kids! That, or make sure you get on Law Review! Otherwise, enjoy your years in the middle class. On the plus side, we’re only a few months away from baseball season!
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Marcus Garvey
Feb 6, 2009 11:00 AM CST
Perfect. So the interest accrues on my student loan (non-dischargeable in Bankruptcy), while I give clever legal advice to debtors who have run up 10K in bad debt “pimpin their rides” so they can avoid paying their creditors (and not going through the “hassle” of BK). THIS is what i always hoped to gain by sitting through Torts.
Give me a break.
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JN
Feb 6, 2009 11:15 AM CST
Marcus, you went to law school to save the world, remember?
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M Garvey
Feb 6, 2009 1:03 PM CST
Marcus is not my real name, “JN” (Jag Nut?), and no, no intention of saving the world. No time for lost causes.
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Joel
Feb 6, 2009 1:43 PM CST
No time for intelligent thought either it would appear. Of the many pro-bono clients I have represented over the years, I do not recall a one looking to clear debt for ‘pimpin their rides.’ Indeed, since the bankruptcy reform act of 2005, consumers seeking a break from careless debt run into a gauntlet of restrictions. I have managed to stay gainfully employed through two slow downs and fully expect to weather my third. If you are lucky, you will soon discover those lawyers who prosper good times or ill have open minds and tight lips.
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can't blame them
Feb 7, 2009 10:32 AM CST
I can’t blame the IL nonprofit for this clever marketing effort. And in fact, it IS better for lawyers to volunteer than sit around the house.
No, the blame lies solely with the “law school-industrial complex,” that monolith of schools and firms that continue to create unneeded lawyers and profit from the overabundance of them. And, yes, also the students, who should have checked more carefully whether there was a pot of gold—or even a pot of beans—at the end of their rainbows.
@JN: enjoy the middle class? HAH! I WAS on law review and spent many years trying to hit the $40,000 mark. We need to stop making so many lawyers. What these folks should do with themselves instead, I don’t know.
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M Garvey
Feb 7, 2009 10:32 AM CST
Well, I am in the trenches everyday my dear (surely no one names a man “joel”) and the folks I see in trouble are not buying diapers and baby formula at Jareds, Macys, and Best Buy. Whats more, I occasionally deal with this CARPLS (IL) group through the debtor defendants who they “advise”. It is amazing how often this people will tell me (out of judges presence) that they had been told to deny EVERYTHING (even down to denying their TRUE residence and claiming that they “may have been the victim of ID theft” when they know the account was theirs).
This is not that idiot on tv (Kevin Trudeau I think is his name) telling people in his latest scam book to just claim ID theft, it is attorneys trying to help people who refuse to live within their means.
I would not be able to sleep at night if I had to suggest to a client that they should lie under oath in a Court room. If I were to do it on a volunteer basis, I would rather just be digging a ditch somewhere. At least it is honest, hard work.
At the very least, go work for a bankruptcy firm. Even if it is a boiler-room operation, it is honest work (making people lie to avoid creditors is not a good policy). AND YOU GET PAID FOR IT!!!!!
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M Garvey
Feb 7, 2009 10:49 AM CST
by the way, JN, put down your latest book from Oprahs list and read up on the real Marcus Garvey. It will be more edifying than this silly, flailing exchange.
GodSpeed sister.
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B. McLeod
Feb 8, 2009 12:44 PM CST
“Joel” is a masculine name, and hales back to Old Testament days. In modern times, people such as pastor Joel Osteen and Actor/Comedian Joel McHale bear the name. I have never met or heard of a woman named “Joel,” so I think you are on infirm ground with your gender assumption (which, I suspect, is actually a juvenile attempt to be offensive). If this is how you frame arguments in court, working for free would represent overcompensation. Enjoy those loan balances!
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JN
Feb 9, 2009 10:24 AM CST
Marcus, I’ll put down my Oprah dreck when you familiarize yourself with the concept of sarcasm. My “save the world” comment was indeed snide, though not directed at you personally. I was, essentially, agreeing with and echoing your frustration. Please try next time to vent in appropriate directions. That said, I was also not decrying pro bono work and couldn’t agree more with the “law school industrial complex” frustration.
*quickly scurries back to my Oprah pablum, considers the purchase of a snuggie*
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