After more than eight years off the job, I’m going to be volunteering for 8 hours a week at Legal Aid. This will hopefully get my brain back into analytical mode, give me some references for when I apply to be an active lawyer again, and give me some experience to build my resume.
I feel a little nervous, but I’m sure they’ll get me up to speed, and I’ll be working with others at least at the beginning. It feels very weird after all this time just to think of being a working person in any capacity, though!
Oh, and for those of you wondering what happened to the lactation consultant thing - I got some more information from two prominent LCs here, and what I found out was I would have to run my own business, rather than working for a hospital or doctor (because they only hire RNs) - and I would hate running my own business. Also, even these ladies who are well known don’t make enough to qualify as a full-time income, and I have enough law school debt to choke an elephant. All in all I decided I ought to try the law thing at least once more. And if I can’t stand law, I can look at other options, including being a post-partum doula without being an LC.
It depends if she kept up with CLE (continuing legal education) requirements, and paid the right fees.
However, that only applies if she intends to appear in court as an attorney. If you are assisting an attorney, essentially as a paralegal, and you never go “on the record” in court, and you are careful not to give any legal advice, no particular qualifications are necessary, from the court’s point of view. From Legal Aid’s point of view, they want attorneys or at least law students who have some clue what’s going on, and know how to do legal research.
OP, I loved interning with Legal Aid, the people I met were real characters and very dedicated. I learned a ton. Have you ever done criminal defense before?
In NC, you can go on “Inactive Status.” That means you don’t have to keep up with continuing education, have insurance, or pay fees. And you can’t practice law during that time. To be able to practice on my own again, I need to petition the court, state that I’m not too crazy or crooked to practice, and have some letters of reference to the same effect. I also need to take 15 hours of CLE. And of course pay a fee!
So for now I’ll be talking to clients, filling out forms, and doing research. Evidently this time of year there’s a lot of folks who just need pro forma custody declarations so they can enroll their wards in school, so I’ll probably do a lot of that paperwork.
Hello Again, this office is just for civil matters. I don’t think I could hack criminal defense, as much as I believe everyone must have representation. I actually worked in the Durham DA’s office during school (before Nifong!), and enjoyed the constantly changing workload, so I think I’ll have fun at LA, working on lots of brief cases, as opposed to my work at the firm, with months of litigation preparation (barf).
What do you hope to return to? Big firm, small firm, government? And what practice area?
It’s a tough legal market right now. After graduation I couldn’t find anything that I was competent to do, or that I found interesting, so I opened up my own firm. It’s doing fairly well, and I’m rather pleased. If you don’t want to own your business, definitely not for you.
I’m thinking either some sort of government work or maybe a small firm that does real estate. I know I hate litigation prep, so I’m avoiding that if I can. It depends hugely on what I wind up qualified for after my volunteer stint. For instance right now there’s a federal job in Charlotte for someone with experience in foreclosure prevention. That could be exactly what I’m looking for (if it was in Raleigh) once I’m up and running again.