NYTimes on Deferred Associates

January 12, 2010 at 2:49 pm · Filed under News and Developments, The Legal Industry and Economy

The New York Times had a blog post yesterday about a deferred Ropes & Gray associate who has been working with the Legal Aid Society through a NYC Bar Association program. This post sparked an interesting comment thread, and the associate himself will be back to the blog to answer posted questions on Friday. We thought this was a good opportunity to share other coverage of deferred associates working with public interest organizations from this past year.

  1. 11.3.09 – New York Law Journal – an estimated 125-140 deferred law firm associates have taken public interest placements with nonprofit and government law offices throughout the NYC Metro region, including Legal Services NYC, the New York City Law Department, and the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office, which itself is hosting 35 deferred associates.  http://www.law.com/jsp/law/careercenter/lawArticleCareerCenter.jsp?id=1202435121475&Deferred_Associates_Hit_the_Ground_Running_at_Temporary__Positions
  2. 10.23.09 – Washington Post (running an Associated Press story) – deferred law firm associates who are taking public interest placements during their deferral periods have fanned out to locations throughout the country.  There are potential benefits in these arrangements for the associates – who may reconnect with their senses of professional idealism while honing skills – and the host organizations which are making use of increased capacity to help their swelling client roles.  http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=8897252 (now available on ABC news)
  3. 10.18.09 – Philadelphia Inquirer – the deferral periods for class-of-2009, firm-bound law school graduates have begun, and many “highly credentialed legal fledglings” find themselves working or volunteering in various capacities – from stints with community groups and nonprofit law offices to waiting tables – before their anticipated reunions with their law firms.  http://www.philly.com/philly/business/homepage/20091018_Lawyers__Paths_Postponed.html
  4. 10.6.09 – Wall Street Journal – recent law grads whose start dates at firms have been deferred are taking a variety of approaches to occupying their time during the deferral period.  Some must work to make ends meet, while others – many of whom are benefiting from a living stipend offered by their firms – are volunteering with public interest law offices.  http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125478012114565787.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
  5. 9.1.09 – Boston Globe – the Massachusetts state judiciary is abandoning a plan to allow deferred law firm associates to serve as judicial law clerks during their deferral period.  http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/09/01/proposal_to_let_law_firm_hires_help_state_courts_is_dropped/
  6. 8.23.09 – Philadelphia Inquirer – a group of deferred law firm associates is descending on Philly to take temporary placements in a civil legal services community that has been facing extraordinary funding and staffing challenges.  http://www.philly.com/inquirer/business/20090823_Law_grads_headed_for_public-interest_work.html
  7. 7.15.09 – The Star-Ledger (New Jersey) – in the midst of a hiring freeze, the New Jersey Attorney General has created the “Volunteer Associates in Public Service” program, through which unemployed law graduates and attorneys may work – with no pay – for the AG’s Division of Law.  http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/index.ssf?/base/news-14/1247630106285570.xml&coll=1

If you’ve seen other media coverage, we’d love to hear about it.

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