With the coming of summer comes a slew of newly graduated law students fresh out of college and eager to enter the work force.
Many face difficult decisions in kickstarting their careers. Should they stay in Cleveland? Should they move? What kind of law should they practice? Should they practice law at all?
Hopefully, most new graduates come out their respective education institution with a good idea of what their career objectives are but for those who are still in school or just graduated with a lot of looming questions still unanswered, there are seasoned experts that can help.
“I think that the prospects for a lawyer in Cleveland are fair to excellent, depending upon what area they choose to get involved in,” said Ian Friedman of Friedman & Nemecek in Cleveland. “The big firms are staying competitive with one another and may start (new hires) with a higher salary. The bulk of students are going to either small or medium-sized firms where it's still very competitive. Everyone is vying for the same positions."
Friedman said the heavy competition in the Cleveland area has led to many students pursuing solo legal careers. He added that while this route tends to be more challenging than working for a firm, sometimes with greater risk comes greater reward, providing that such a student understands business.
“You can’t just only know law. You’ve got to know business,” Friedman said. “And only when you have those two coupled together is Cleveland going to provide the kind of success that so many are trying to achieve.”
Friedman has done quite a bit of traveling throughout the U.S. and gained a strong knowledge base of which markets hold the best career opportunities for law students. He pointed out that some cities comparable to Cleveland in size are growing at a faster rate and therefore have more available jobs, such as Charlotte, N.C.
There are also more opportunities in many of the country’s largest cities, such as New York and Chicago, while Cleveland tends to have several lawyers going after the same cases.
While geography and the general state of the marketplace in which one plans to practice can play a significant role in determining a law graduate's career outlook, Art Elk of Elk & Elk Attorneys Co. in Mayfield Heights believes there is no substitution for old-fashioned hard work and determination.
“If it is your objective to become a lawyer, I always believe that the cream always rises to the top,” Elk said. “If you really have that fire in your belly to become a lawyer, you should pursue it. Now, with that being said, there are things you can do along the way to increase your chances of success.”
He said he thinks it is important to not only complete internships while in law school but to intern with multiple law firms that specialize in different types of law. By getting a taste of what it is like working in business law, civil law, criminal law, injury law, etc., students can get an idea of what kind of law they are truly passionate about and go from there.
“I've always felt that if you are passionate about what you are doing, success will follow,” Elk said. “You don't have to think or worry about the money. As far as salary, a lot depends on the size of the law firm you work for, the type of law you are practicing and the city you are working in.”
According to PayScale.com, the median starting salary for an entry-level attorney in the U.S. is $64,340. In Cleveland, the median entry-level salary is $62,589.
Elk also sees how a law degree could benefit someone who plans to go into business or another profession outside the legal field.
“I feel that a law degree is one of the best graduate degree one can have whether a person plans to practice law or not,” Elk said. “Because we live in a world where it is important to understand contracts, it's important to understand trade agreements and understand intellectual property rights.”
Like Elk, Roger Synenberg of Synenberg, Coletta & Morean in Cleveland is a believer that the cream of the crop tends to trend upward.
“What I would say to someone, whether they had a (job) opportunity or not is get involved,” he said. “Go to work for somebody for free if there's nobody who can pay you. Go do volunteer work at the bar association. Don't stay on the sidelines. The people who I see succeed are the people who refuse to accept the standard ‘there are too many lawyers, they’re not hiring, they’re not paying enough.’”
Synenberg said it is important to remember that there is no set timeframe for success and advises young lawyers to “keep plugging away” as long as they have a passion for the work.
Robert Rozboril is a freelancer writer from Parma.
