tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2534881846878881386.post1520944188106750938..comments2024-02-10T05:49:43.712-03:00Comments on Scammed Hard!: Report: Rural Areas Positively Brimming with Legal WorkScammed Hard!http://www.blogger.com/profile/01044898077026675015noreply@blogger.comBlogger20125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2534881846878881386.post-29685444709786857252013-03-02T04:54:41.389-03:002013-03-02T04:54:41.389-03:00Thank you so much for your tips!Thank you so much for your tips!Washington DC Lawyer Jobshttp://www.bcgsearch.com/legalmarketsinfo.php?id=31noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2534881846878881386.post-77385882135730749322012-08-12T20:18:03.473-03:002012-08-12T20:18:03.473-03:00I agree with anonymous above. You either do or you...I agree with anonymous above. You either do or you don't and attitude is more than half the battle. Not to mention that, frankly, it doesn't take a ton of work to "eek" out a living as a small town attorney, i.e., just 12-15 hours of work per week at $100-$150 per hour winds up being between $62000-$115,000 per year.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2534881846878881386.post-19677902306477162302011-02-09T18:26:09.761-03:002011-02-09T18:26:09.761-03:00Holy Moly. What a group of shitty attorneys we ha...Holy Moly. What a group of shitty attorneys we have here. A license to practice law = a license to print money. When I graduated in 2009, I couldn't find a job. What did I do? I worked hard & now do pretty well for myself. Getting the first couple of clients was hard...people don't have much reason to go to the new guy. Do a good job & things will work out. Satisfied clients lead to more clients.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2534881846878881386.post-21397612167186322942011-02-09T18:25:43.752-03:002011-02-09T18:25:43.752-03:00Holy Moly. What a group of shitty attorneys we ha...Holy Moly. What a group of shitty attorneys we have here. A license to practice law = a license to print money. When I graduated in 2009, I couldn't find a job. What did I do? I worked hard & now do pretty well for myself. Getting the first couple of clients was hard...people don't have much reason to go to the new guy. Do a good job & things will work out. Satisfied clients lead to more clients.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2534881846878881386.post-75946583524233418822010-09-28T23:19:57.606-03:002010-09-28T23:19:57.606-03:00The author of this blog and some commenters obviou...The author of this blog and some commenters obviously never have learned the rich lessons of rural America: hard work, honesty, and community, to name a few.<br /><br />The ones who do the best are the ones who people know and trust. It takes time and a positive attitude. But, it can be done.<br /><br />Quit whining and get to work.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2534881846878881386.post-17534978895256619442010-09-26T22:21:30.633-03:002010-09-26T22:21:30.633-03:00There are jobs out there, just not for lawyers bec...There are jobs out there, just not for lawyers because the market is saturated with lawyers right now. Too many law schools are opening up and too many people are going to law school. The creates an oversupply of lawyers and the demand is not there. Also, the legal industry is also outsourcing some legal functions to India.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2534881846878881386.post-5639528619619193482010-09-20T16:54:54.258-03:002010-09-20T16:54:54.258-03:00One thing that hasn't been mentioned so far in...One thing that hasn't been mentioned so far in this discussion of CountryLaw is that in many counties in the rural South, most of the white professional people in the county are related to one another by blood or marriage, and the black professionals have a smaller, but very similar kinship network. If these people have any sort of legal case, the first thing that they are going to do is to discuss it for free with their cousin. The cousin may end up referring the case to someone better qualified to handle it, but it won't be YOU. You'll never be a full-fledged member of the community, because in a town with one elementary, one middle school, and one high school, the friendships are very close, especially when the friends are first, second, or third cousins to start with. Your children will be accepted as members of the community if they live there from an early age and end up marrying somebody local, but it will be tougher for you. <br /><br />I have had several aunts and uncles retire to the boondock area of their birth, after spending their working lives elsewhere. Only one of the couples lasted more than five years before moving elsewhere. The wife of the couple who made it told me that the difference was that she made sure that they joined a church as soon as they arrived, even though they had not been church people in the big city. The church gave them an instant social network, and they built on that. But I was surprised that things didn't work out for the other couples, as they all had a LOT of family and former classmates living in the area.<br /><br />If you get offered a job in Hooterville, you should take it, and try hard to fit in with the locals, but moving to the sticks to hang out a shingle is a bad, bad idea. It might work out if your spouse has a decent job in a small town, and you hang out a shingle, but without a spouse's steady paycheck, you will STARVE.Southernernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2534881846878881386.post-36015643904339986732010-09-20T12:08:22.776-03:002010-09-20T12:08:22.776-03:00I don't think anyone is criticizing the good p...I don't think anyone is criticizing the good people who live in rural areas. I live in one, and I absolutely love it and the people I live around and wouldn't consider living anywhere else. I have lived in the big city and hated it and all the crap attitudes of the people there. And I disagree that there are no smart or attractive people here; there are a lot of both but I guess if your idea of a good man is someone with integrity, industriousness and fortitude and not a Porsche-driving, Armani-wearing asshole, maybe a good man is indeed "hard to find," in the words of Flannery O'Connor (one of our local legends out here).<br /><br />But, I will say that I have tried to be a lawyer in a rural area and it did not work out because as people above mentioned, there are "town lawyers" that have built practices up long before I was born and have sons and grandsons who have taken them over. If you do work in rural America, you will generally get the crap cases and by crap I mean that they don't pay. "Paying your dues" doesn't work when you're starving to death and could make more working at the local diner. My child doesn't give a damn if I'm paid in the form of an old car or some other bartered item; that isn't putting food into his mouth.<br /><br />One thing you will notice if you decide to come out to the hinterlands and practice is that your clients make a ton more money than you do, even if they WON'T pay you. The everyman and everywoman who are divorcing both decided to take jobs and work themselves up to decent livings after high school, much like their parents. They didn't chase some crappy dream of "being somebody" down a rabbit hole like I did. They all own homes and though they may have married young, their kids have most anything they want. I had to borrow money so my child could have a couple of birthday presents when I was "practicing." They may have taken an LPN or HVAC course at the county vo-tech, but that's it in the way of higher ed and they aren't saddled with the debt we are. I wish I'd taken that path - smart or not, ambitious or not. I envy them, I really do.<br /><br />I am negative only because I see that I made a huge mistake going into law but I'm very positive about my life and career outside of law. Since I gave up that pipe dream, I have been much more happy and productive.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2534881846878881386.post-60269676300382682422010-09-18T19:46:32.284-03:002010-09-18T19:46:32.284-03:00There is nonetheless great value and social good i...There is nonetheless great value and social good in warning the living hell out of still-naive pre-laws of the dangers inherent in the JD. <br /><br />Attitude be damned. <br /><br />I'm working, full-time, thank you, in the non-legal world, paying my bills and producing value. I have a RIGHT to call attention to the law school scam.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2534881846878881386.post-37706996814240226462010-09-18T09:05:57.863-03:002010-09-18T09:05:57.863-03:00I sympathize with you for being unemployed in a sa...I sympathize with you for being unemployed in a saturated market during a horrible recession. Furthermore law schools lied about employment and, worse, failed to teach anything of substance so you don't even know how to write a will or plead a DUI for some money.<br /><br />But the greatest danger is your own attitude. Your focus should be on your own career, not 45,000 other graduates.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2534881846878881386.post-91647888037767144512010-09-18T03:11:34.418-03:002010-09-18T03:11:34.418-03:00Yes, Mr. Alger, we can all make huge successes out...Yes, Mr. Alger, we can all make huge successes out of ourselves. Let's all of us 45,000 law graduates per year just grab our bootstraps and PULL, really hard! Each and every one of us will have six-figure PI cases beating down our doors in no time.Scammed Hard!https://www.blogger.com/profile/01044898077026675015noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2534881846878881386.post-55818418966248101242010-09-17T23:53:10.999-03:002010-09-17T23:53:10.999-03:00You guys will make good lawyers one day because yo...You guys will make good lawyers one day because you can take a look at any set of facts and always find a way to argue your position.<br /><br />For example, you always find a way to argue the most negative and defeatist position about your situation and about how bad the legal profession sucks. When people make a reasonable suggestion, you treat it as an opposing argument in your Socratic law debate and find ways to shoot it down and explain why it won't work. <br /><br />My office mate, in Chicago, just settled a PI case for $350k. Last week he just closed a PI client that he estimates is worth $500k. I'm litigating a patent case on contingency that I estimate will settle north of $1.5M. We're all small firm "shitlawyers". BTW, We have no bosses. No one tells us what to do.<br /><br />There are a lot of lawyers and this economy sucks. Law schools lie about employment and then refuse to teach you anything of value. It takes years to learn to do it right; and most don't. But this is a profesion where, to a large extent, you make your own success.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2534881846878881386.post-70832916526734219062010-09-14T09:59:28.297-03:002010-09-14T09:59:28.297-03:00I suppose property boundary line disputes between ...I suppose property boundary line disputes between Farmer Johnson and Farmer Smith will only stretch so far. <br /><br />Don't forget industrial accidents and Worker's Comp. Many WC statutes- especially in the Midwest, South, and American Southwest provide PATHETIC payouts. I forget the exact compensation rate in Iowa, for a worker who loses his arm on the job, but it was something like $45K. While you may not need to invest tons of your own money for expert witnesses - since you will be in front of an ALJ - will this work be worth that big-ass $15K payday?!?!<br /><br />Lastly, don't forget that farm workers are typically not covered by WC statutes, as they are politically anemic due to their status as destitute workers.<br /><br />But, yes, go out and enjoy practicing law in rural America. After all, someone has to use their "vast reservoir of legal knowledge" to keep Johnson's cows from grazing on Smith's land. Realistically, the best gig in small-town legal practice is as a prosecutor or judge. But also take into account that small counties are all suffering cutbacks in staff and budgets.Nandohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06423524039657355134noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2534881846878881386.post-9143309242540139952010-09-13T23:46:14.872-03:002010-09-13T23:46:14.872-03:00Coming from a small town of like 4000 where there ...Coming from a small town of like 4000 where there are already 5-6 lawyers, I'd like to know where the heck this extra work is going to come from.<br /><br />Personal injury? From corn cribs, maybe, but less traffic = fewer fatalities/injuries. Med-mal? Fewer hospitals + farming surgery to bigger cities = limited medmal case work. Divorce? Rural people have the lowest rate in the country, by far. Consumer law? Credit cards are less frequently used in rural areas; companies like Capital One and HSBC are less likely to market there, which means fewer collections claims. Corporate law? Ha. Environmental law? Good luck fighting zoning ordinances at good ol' boy's city council meetings. Criminal law? My hometown has had one murder in the last 30 years and 99% of criminal cases are misdemeanors where the judge and DA know the defendant, so it's an easy, routinized system with little room to squeeze your strange lawyerin' ways in.<br /><br />Good luck eeking it out on speeding tickets, wills, and the random "big one," and that's only if you get it instead of the other 4-5 lawyers hanging around.J-Doggednoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2534881846878881386.post-49948975621813056042010-09-13T22:00:38.205-03:002010-09-13T22:00:38.205-03:00I am related to a country lawyer. I don't know...I am related to a country lawyer. I don't know anything about being paid in hickory nuts. That's probably just fiction. I do know that you have to be a farmer and know a mechanic to practice law in the country. Once he was paid in chickens, and he also accepted a junk car as payment once.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2534881846878881386.post-33777163113130443512010-09-13T21:08:20.383-03:002010-09-13T21:08:20.383-03:00Yes, the rural areas are positively brimming with ...Yes, the rural areas are positively brimming with legal work. Sure they are, and Salma Hayek absolutely sang to the rooftops - after I gave her 16 orgasms in rapid succession. How can these idiots even bring themselves to write such nonsense?!Nandohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06423524039657355134noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2534881846878881386.post-81199095462877809862010-09-13T15:05:59.596-03:002010-09-13T15:05:59.596-03:00I hope Eric Cooperstein will respond. You just ev...I hope Eric Cooperstein will respond. You just eviscerated him. Awesome post.Frank the Underemployed Professionalhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00461791753886733576noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2534881846878881386.post-64410291022994676852010-09-13T13:35:53.203-03:002010-09-13T13:35:53.203-03:00Don't forget that the rural town lifestyle may...Don't forget that the rural town lifestyle may be devastating to a young lawyer. Small towns mean there are extremely limited options when it comes to dating, not just because there are so few people overall, but also because people there will tend to marry young. Any remaining attractive or intelligent people will have moved away.<br /><br />Most people consider having a family to be pretty important, so this is not only a job you don't want, but could also spell disaster for every other aspect of your life.BL1Yhttp://bl1y.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2534881846878881386.post-84010382199004457442010-09-13T02:38:43.193-03:002010-09-13T02:38:43.193-03:00I nearly starved working in a small town as a law ...I nearly starved working in a small town as a law clerk. The small law office my former boss had was always in the red and her checks didn't always have the funds to support them. Yes we were occasionally paid with bartered services from our customers, there was always some excuse why check wasn't in the mail or bounced. Also we did pro-bono favors for local court judges since that was seemed to be in the law firms long term strategic interest. Although my fondest memories of working in the law are in that small town office, I do love having a steady paycheck now.PoorGradhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06348929998247512034noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2534881846878881386.post-83970757135799610872010-09-13T02:08:53.610-03:002010-09-13T02:08:53.610-03:00The good people I know in rural zones pay their bi...The good people I know in rural zones pay their bills religiously. Literally, it is part of their faith to be responsible with money. They balance their checkbooks to the penny and go crazy by accounting mistakes. Maybe there isn't much legal work, but don't be so prejudiced against them...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com