by Joe Wilhelm Jr.
Staff Writer
A Jacksonville law school graduated its largest class in its short history this spring and about 400 graduates will soon be taking the Bar exam and, hopefully, joining the legal profession.
But where will they find work in these difficult economic times?
A discussion with Ellen Sefton, Florida Coastal School of Law’s (FCSL) Director of Career Services, and Associate Director Lydia Russo revealed how last year’s class has faired after nine months in the job market. (This year’s class won’t be surveyed until 2010.)
“We don’t get the sense that this year’s class is feeling a problem in employment,” said Sefton. “The larger firms are getting the publicity because they are laying off, but a lot of our students are not going into the larger firms.”
Of the previous graduating class, 48.5 percent went into private practice, 17.5 percent went into public interest (public defender, legal aid or legal services), 15.5 percent went into government, 13.1 percent went into business/industry, 2.7 percent went into judicial clerkships, 2.4 percent were in academia and the rest were unknown.
Eighty-five percent of the previous graduating class accepted employment in the South Atlantic region, which stretches from Virginia south. Of that group, 74 percent found work in Florida and 43 percent of those who found work in Florida stayed in Jacksonville.
A majority of the new arrivals into the Jacksonville legal community are also new to Florida. FCSL reports that 60 percent of its students come from outside of Florida and the school’s Career Services Department is recommending that students consider returning to their native areas.
“Future classes are a little more savvy, and know they might have to leave Jacksonville. It has really reached its limit in the past couple of years,” said Russo. “Jacksonville may be a good place to come to learn the law, but students are finding
that it may not be the place to start their career.”
Top five states with the most attorneys
1. New York 150,542
2. California 148,399
3. Texas 73,505
4. Illinois 61,259
5. Florida 59,953
Top five states with the least attorneys
1. North Dakota 1,345
2. Wyoming 1,537
3. South Dakota 1,761
4. Vermont 2,183
5. Alaska 2,385
(from the American Bar Association. Individual state Bar associations or licensing agencies were asked to provide the number of resident, active attorneys as of Dec. 31, 2007.)
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