Interview details

The interview was scheduled for 3:00 pm. Very nice office with beautiful interior. Around 3:15 the partner walks out with a applicant and then calls me in. It was a pretty quick interview lasting around 15 minutes. He shot out the questions in a rapid fire fashion, catching me off guard. I know some points were lost when I revealed my limited hearing exposure. After that we had some small talk and I was off on my way. As I was walking out there was another applicant waiting with her black resume folder and had a smile across her face from ear to ear. It was the strangest facial expression I have seen in a long time. Perhaps it was her first interview in a loooong time.

Regardless, I don't feel too optimistic as the listing stated 1-5 years of experience, and with me having 1 year of on and off work, I am confident that there will be another applicant with more experience that will get the job. When he quoted me what they were willing to pay I was in shock. He told me, "for a new guy like you, I would say 52 to 57 would be fair." I was like WHAT THE FUCK!! I was expecting some crap number like low 30's possibly low 40's. Whoever gets that gig will be a happy camper as they have decent business clients and basically respresent the local governments in many areas. Plus bonus a 3 year experienced applicant will make a good 70k.

I was told that they need the new attorney by the end of the week. He also stated that business was very good and that they were planning on hiring an additional associate. Imagine that, a law job with no PI clients that pays pretty well. Regardless of the outcome I can honestly say that it feels good to finally have a response as 18 months of silence is so damaging to the ego. I may possibly have an additional interview set up by the end of the week with some local OC firm. Will see what happens with that.

On my way out I asked him if he had many applications for this job and he said he was "overwhelmed". Im positive that he has NO IDEA how bad the market is right now and how many other applicants would take this job in a heartbeat for 35k. Maybe he knows but still wants to pay well as he knows that happier employees make good employees. He said that he had out of state applicants sending in resumes for this position. Fucking a.

So yes go ahead and go to law school and the label subprime will be yours soon enough. If you law school lemmings think that position that is basically entry level offers over 50k is crap then take a look at this recent gem:

http://inlandempire.craigslist.org/lgl/2060991866.html
Starting Salary 33k to 35k
Duties will include: civil litigation, family law, and special appearances in state and federal courts and depositions


On a completely unrelated note I spoke with a 4th year lawyer buddy of mine that said his student loan balance had not fallen at all in the last 4 years. I asked him if he was paying more than the minimum amount and he said NO. I told him that his loans were structured like a credit card and NOT a mortgage and he fucking flipped. I told him that if he ever planned on eliminating his student loan debt he would have to pay a percentage higher than his interest rate on his principal balance. So if his minimum payment was 800 and the rate was 10% he would have to pay more than 80 dollars to actually begin reducing the principal. Now wouldn't that be a mega class action as thousands of borrowers across the country are under the impression that their loans are structured like mortgages.