The job market these days is so tough that even lawyers are having problems finding work.
Last October, the Wake Forest University School of Law started a Low Bono Program as a way to help students struggling to find jobs and provide inexpensive legal assistance to people in the community.
The program is an extension of the law school's Community Law and Business Clinic, which offers free legal assistance to nonprofits and small businesses.
Steve Virgil, the clinic's director, came up with the idea for the Low Bono Program. The clinic refers people to the program who don't qualify for the clinic's services. And the attorneys agree to provide legal assistance to those clients at a significantly reduced cost.
Scott McCormick is one of three law-school graduates who work in the program. He graduated in May, and said he found it hard to find work, although he has obtained a contract position with a local law firm.
But the Low Bono Program also has provided him with "great experience," he said. McCormick handles five to six clients a weeks, many of whom are dealing with family law or employment issues. The clients may be trying to get a simple divorce or obtain unemployment benefits, he said.
Many of his friends have had trouble finding work, he said.
"There's so many of us who didn't find employment or were deferred," he said. "Many were deferred for up to a year."
Law-school graduates all over the country are entering a tough job market, Virgil said.
"The market is very challenged right now," he said. "Jobs are not easy to come by. It's a different environment for recent grads than it was two years ago."
According to statistics from the law school, 96.6 percent of students who graduated in 2008 found jobs within nine months.
Law firms are clamping down on hiring, including the nation's top firms. The number of interviews is down, and offers aren't being extended as much, according to an article last August in The New York Times.
"The legal industry has been dealing with a dramatic transformation due to the financial crisis in the last 18 months," said Kim Fields, the director of career services at Wake Forest University School of Law. "A lot of the law firms are evaluating the landscape."
McCormick said he loves the one-on-one attention he can give clients, and the experience has made him want to do more community law work.
But most of all he likes the fact that he has a job.
"We can still get our practice and get some broader experience and make some money," he said.
mhewlett@wsjournal.com
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