Saturday, September 29, 2007 8:02 AM
Blawg Book Highlighter #3: Nonlegal Careers for Lawyers
Bill's post earlier this week, Lawyer Starting Salaries: Beyond Big Law, about the tough times faced by law grads and just how tough the job market is for them these days got me scrambling to Amazon.com where I searched "Lawyers" under the category "Books". The results of that search are telling.
At the top spot was Anonymous Lawyer by Jeremy Blachman, the subject of last week's Blawg Book Highlighter (see Blawg Book Highlighter #2: Anonymous Lawyer), which tells me that maybe some students out there actually are paying attention.
But it was the next two books that came up in the search that told the story.
The book that came in at No. 2, Nonlegal Careers for Lawyers, 5th Edition, by Gary Munneke, is the subject of this week's Blawg Book Highlighter. Next week I'll feature the book that rounded out the top 3, Should You Really Be a Lawyer?: The Guide to Smart Career Choices Before, During and After Law School by Deborah Schneider and Gary Belsky.
Nowhere in the top 10 was there a book telling you how to get a job as a lawyer or why you should be a lawyer. In fact, at No. 10 was The Lawyer's Career Change Handbook: More Than 300 Things You Can Do With a Law Degree.
Evidently, there are a lot of law grads out there looking for jobs and a lot of them are not looking for law jobs.
From the publisher's book description of Nonlegal Careers for Lawyers:
Great opportunities exist for law students and practicing lawyers outside the traditional practice of law. This important resource shows you when and how to choose a nonlegal career; the specialized skills legal training provides; how to plan and conduct a job search; and provides details on careers in business and industry, government and public service, associations and institutions, and entrepreneurial ventures. A resource section provides surveys and listings of nonlegal careers in several categories, and a listing of publishers and suggested readings on nonlegal careers.
The publisher of Nonlegal Careers for Lawyers? None other than the American Bar Association.
The one Amazon customer review for the book is not surprisingly from a reviewer who identifies herself as "Disgruntled Law Student." She gives it 3 ½ stars out of 5.
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Randy Richardson is an author, humorist, former journalist, and a lawyer. His fiction debut, Lost in the Ivy, a murder mystery set against the backdrop of Chicago's storied Wrigley Field, won the Writers Marketing Association's “Fresh Voices” Book Award and the Illinois Woman's Press Association's Mate E. Palmer Communications Contest. He writes the Dad Libs column for SanityCentral.com and is a frequent contributor to Chicago Parent magazine. In his day job, he is an attorney for the Social Security Administration’s disability appeals branch. At night and during lunch breaks, he serves as president of the Chicago Writers Association (chicagowrites.org) and works on his second novel while a 4-year-old tugs on his legs. Visit his website at www.lostintheivy.com.
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