My Blog post on the Mass Real Estate Law Blog is now on boston.com’s real estate blog!  Check it out.

I’ve been dreading writing this post for a couple of reasons;

1- I am trying to stay positive despite my legal career, and many of my close friend’s legal careers, not taking off quite the way we expected. 

2- My brother, girlfriend, and others are always on me to stay positive and not get dragged down into depression and anger about the way things have worked out since law school

3- Because this isn’t Big Debt, Small Law, Exposing the Law School Scam, JD Underdog, Temporary Attorney, Esq. Never, Toiletlaw, and Third Tier Reality…not to say these blogs don’t serve an important purpose, and for that matter, demographic. 

Law isn’t for everyone.  It may, after all of this, maybe years from now, turn out to not be for me as well, but I don’t believe we can just sit around and tell people not to go. This blog is here for those of us who are lawyers, or are about to be lawyers, or if there are any of them still out there, those who want to be lawyers, and still have a sense of humor and like fun, awesome stuff.  Which, it so happens, is my specialty.  (note this blog is also here for those who just love awesome stuff). 

My purpose is not to, as Third Tier Reality writes, … inform potential law school students and applicants of the ugly realities of attending law school. DO NOT ATTEND UNLESS: (1) YOU GET INTO A TOP 8 LAW SCHOOL;(2) YOU GET A FULL-TUITION SCHOLARSHIP TO ATTEND;(3) YOU HAVE EMPLOYMENT AS AN ATTORNEY SECURED THROUGH A RELATIVE OR CLOSE FRIEND; OR (4) YOU ARE FULLY AWARE BEFOREHAND THAT YOUR HUGE INVESTMENT IN TIME, ENERGY, AND MONEY DOES NOT, IN ANY WAY, GUARANTEE A JOB AS AN ATTORNEY OR IN THE LEGAL INDUSTRY… regardless of how much I agree or disagree with that advice. 

But it can be tough, and I know that.  I’m a year removed from graduating with honors from, as some of the blogs above would describe it, a third tier toilet, with plenty of leadership and awards to boot… with no one offering me a “lucrative” or even a full time job.  But I’m making the best of it, and anyone else in my place should as well. 

HOWEVER, that being said, it’s amazing that, as the Dan Henninger of the WSJ writes, the youth of today face more unemployment than ever before (The U.S. unemployment rate for workers under 25 years old is now about 20%). 

Meanwhile, some of our supposedly best and brightest youth who spend 3-4 years toiling away in law school only to be taken advantage of by firms who offer them unpaid internships as a way to get a foot in the door.  Evidence shows that the number of unpaid internships is mushrooming — fueled by employers’ desire to hold down costs and students’ eagerness to gain experience for their résumés. Which is all fine and good, I suppose, except that these firms and companies are not giving the student interns real work that will benefit them in the future, but instead are treated as office monkeys made to wipe door handles for swine flu prevention, or mop the floors (read the NY Times article).  Many employers internships did not comply with the six federal legal criteria that must be satisfied for internships to be unpaid, among which are that the internship should be similar to the training given in a vocational school or academic institution, that the intern does not displace regular paid workers and that the employer “derives no immediate advantage” from the intern’s activities — in other words, it’s largely a benevolent contribution to the intern. Further, another serious problem surrounding unpaid interns is they are often not considered employees and therefore are not protected by employment discrimination laws, including sexual harassment claims!

Add to that consultants telling recent grads who have part-time, low paying jobs that:

“I know a lot of recent law school graduates who would give anything to trade places with you right now” (see ABA article)

and you can see why many of us struggle with staying positive. 

But the fight goes on.  I promise to have some more awesome stuff up asap, so we can skip over these boring/sad articles and get into the good stuff! 

“Beginning today, bloggers, Twitterers, and others who write online reviews or endorse products using new media must disclose it when they receive free merchandise or payment for writing about an item. The guidelines update the FTC’s 1980 guide addressing the use of testimonials in advertising, remapping marketing rules for the digital realm”

Social media and the accompanying developer-created tools are changing the ways businesses communicate with customers, the ways customers communicate with brands, and the ways businesses communicate with other businesses as well. With Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Flickr, Google Wave, Wikipedia, Slideshare, FriendFeed, Posterous, Delicious, WordPress, Tumblr and more, it’s hard not to be overwhelmed and confused.  Its even harder to start using them without feeling like this undertaking is going to be the equivalent of a part-time job.

So why should we even use social media in the first place?  Because being active on these new web 2.0 sites can:

Provide international web exposure

Attract like-minded and discussion minded people

Speak directly to your audience wherever they are

Help put out, or start, a fire (manage your PR)

Enhance your knowledge base

Improve collaboration

Expose you to different ideas

Allow you to test or get feedback

Let you meet and converse with new audiences, industry leaders, younger generation

The Cone Business in Social Media Study reported that 93% of Americans expect companies they do business with to have a social media presence, while 85 percent believe a company should not only be present, but also interact with its customers via social media.

This is what it is all about… the secret to social media is communication.  You must spend most of your time listening and then speaking, just like a face to face conversation.  You must listen to know what people want to hear, what topics will garner their interest and what answers will spark their interaction.  Then you can speak directly to them, providing the content that will engage the people on these media networks and delve into their discussions.  They’ll appreciate this, your brand’s reputation can grow and business will follow.  Good luck!