I graduated from law school at the University of California, Berkeley (Boalt Hall) ten years ago. In fact, I think it was exactly ten years ago.
It doesn't seem like it was that long ago, but ten years ago is when "The X-Files" was still good; "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" still represented the cutting edge of movie F/X; the public had not heard of Monica Lewinsky yet; and amazon.com was just getting started.
I suppose it seems relatively recent because I haven't stayed at one job or type of job consistently since graduation. I have a number of law school friends who are still at the same law firms they started at, and others who went in-house shortly after being at firms and are still in-house. But I clerked for three years, worked for Munger Tolles for three and a half years, and then started teaching. So while the people who started at Munger Tolles the same time I did (who are still there) have become partners, I've ended up, in a way, back at the bottom of the totem pole by going on the tenure track.
Anyway, Boalt sent the class of 1995 graduates a .pdf document containing the addresses of all of us (at least, those still alive and for whom the law school has a current address). A lot of people are still at private firms, there are a few at public interest firms, some in government work, fewer still in teaching (I think a total of four), and a surprising number who appear to be on their own (judging by the absence of any firm name listed with the address). I wonder if the distribution of legal jobs more closely resembles the overall picture for law grads 10 years later than it did when we were fresh out of law school. I'd guess that it does.
Prof. Yin,
Maybe you have blogged about this before, but why did you eventually decide to leave private practice and enter into academia?
Posted by: Iowa Law Alum | May 23, 2005 at 09:27 AM
He doesn't golf so he knew he'd never make partner.
Posted by: tom | May 24, 2005 at 10:28 AM
Three years of clerking sounds like fun. I'm getting ready to start year 1.......once I get around to passing the bar.
Ever thought of being a solo attorney?
Posted by: elliot | May 28, 2005 at 11:43 PM
I can readily see why someone would leave the practice. I graduated 12 years ago from Case Western Reserve ("The Haaahvahd of the Midwest"), worked as an Assistant Attorney General and on my own and boy-oh-boy do I have a story to share equally as valuable as the practice itself:
My name is Christopher King. I know ignorance, bigotry, racism, sexism and just plain corporate and judicial hatred all too well.
My experiences in Columbus, Ohio as a Civil Rights lawyer and as a contracts manager working for Boston’s American Tower Corporation – a company fined $300,000.00 by the Department of Labor for overtime violations at my behest – are chronicled in a 15-minute movie on my website, soon to be developed in Hollywood.
http://www.christopherkingesq.com/index.html
http://www.christopherkingesq.com/html/release_mov1.html
Now American Tower has just bought SpectraSite for $3.1B to consolidate their communications power over Americans. After you watch the video, you will be very wary of that encroachment.
-Christopher King, Esq.
Posted by: Christopher King | May 31, 2005 at 05:00 PM
I am currently at a big New York firm and am making a move out to L.A. later this summer. I have an offer from Munger Tolles and a few other places -- I am seriously thinking about accepting Munger's offer. Would you recommend Munger as a good place to work? Do you know if your friends that are still there are pretty happy? Any and all info is greatly appreciated. Thanks very much.
Posted by: o.g. | June 06, 2005 at 11:29 PM