More law students forced to take unpaid internships

NORFOLK

In the crowded Norfolk Circuit Courtroom, Diane Maydosz clutched several folders to her pinstriped navy suit jacket.

She answered a few simple questions from the judge. A minute later, one of the first courtroom arguments of Maydosz's legal career ended with a continuance. It was just the start of her workday.

After court, Maydosz drove 50 miles to Williamsburg to a second job, teaching dog obedience classes.

The classes are her only paying job this summer. Like many legal interns in government offices this summer, Maydosz is working for free. The third-year law student at the College of William and Mary admits prospects after law school are "a little bleak."

Legal interns in government jobs this summer are learning a painful message: The law doesn't always pay. Once a fallback for underemployed liberal arts majors, law school has become an expensive path to a profession with no guarantee of a high-paying job.

The median starting salary for new law school graduates last year fell 13 percent, while starting pay at private firms dropped 20 percent, according to an industry report released last month by the National Association for Law Placement.

Private sector pay dropped mainly because large firms cut back on hiring, according to the report.

Shrinking opportunities in the private sector have also made it tough for young lawyers to land lower-paying public sector jobs, industry experts said. "It's even more competitive than it was before," said Kevin Donovan, senior assistant dean for career services at the University of Virginia School of Law. "Even at a top school like Virginia, they have to work hard."

Prosecutors and public defenders offices in South Hampton Roads have eliminated almost all of their part-time paid positions for summer interns over the past few years. Summer staff with prosecutors in Norfolk, Chesapeake and Portsmouth receive little more than a parking spot, desk and experience. Just half of the interns in Virginia Beach's Commonwealth Attorney's office are paid. Public defenders and judicial clerks in for the summer receive no compensation, according to several interns and local offices.

Portsmouth Commonwealth's Attorney Earle Mobley said the quantity and quality of legal interns has soared this year. He said he expected to have two unpaid interns, but ended up hiring five because of the strong pool of applicants. For his cash-strapped department, Mobley said, "It is a godsend."

Many local interns make do with law school stipends, grants and family help. A few, like Maydosz, take on part-time jobs, although they are discouraged from working during law school by bar associations. In Norfolk, the city ran out of money to pay legal interns two years ago, according to spokeswoman Amanda Howie.

Last year, U.Va. law student Katie Beye worked an unpaid internship with a judge in her native Kansas City and worked nights at a liquor store, she said. This year, Beye borrowed $3,000 from her sister, a schoolteacher, to make it through the summer at the Norfolk Commonwealth's Attorney's office.

Beye said several of her classmates landed summer jobs at big firms in Washington, D.C., with perks including tickets to Nationals baseball games and flying trapeze lessons. But she's happy with her choice this summer, she said, because she wants to argue cases in court: "I want to prosecute."

When Rachel Yount told friends and family in Tennessee she was going to law school at William and Mary, they told her she was going to be so rich. "No I won't," she told them.

Yount landed in the Norfolk public defender's office for the summer. She's researched criminal law and observed several high-profile cases, and the experience has convinced her she wants to be in the courtroom.

Yount knows life after school could be difficult. A fellow W&M law school friend who recently graduated has at least one job offer - as a part-time lawyer at a legal clinic for the poor making less than $10 an hour. "We were all pretty devastated," Yount said.

As their job prospects have shrunk, law school students' debts have grown. The average student graduating from public law school last year came out with nearly $69,000 in debt compared with about $106,000 in debt from private schools, according to a study by the American Bar Association. During the past decade, student debt has jumped about 50 percent at both public and private schools, according to the association.

Brian Bailey, a Regent University law student spending the summer at the Chesapeake Commonwealth Attorney's office, said he's worried his loans will be tough to repay. "I'm a little nervous, to be perfectly honest," said Bailey, a devout Christian, adding, "God has a purpose."

The market even has young lawyers from prestigious law schools concerned. At least one U.Va. law school student showed up on campus wearing a T-shirt that read, "Virginia Law $40,000 a year and no job," according to the legal blog Above The Law.

Donovan declined to comment on the incident but said the school has several programs to support students and graduates in the difficult job market. U.Va. awarded $378,000 in grants this year to 81 students with summer jobs in the public interest sector.

Regent University School of Law dean Jeffrey Brauch said their students are focusing more on marketable skills such as legal writing, trial practice and even a seminar in opening a law firm. "Law school is way too expensive and requires too much work to dabble in," Brauch said.

Many students say regardless of the pay, they have benefited from their summer experiences. They generally travel in groups, comparing notes on trial strategy and legal theory. They typically work between 30 and 40 hours a week.

A few with legal certificates are allowed to argue cases when supervised by seasoned prosecutors. "The point is to get up there and get comfortable in front of the court," said Alex MacDonald, a rising third year at William and Mary. "It's such a high."

Maydosz graduated from Norfolk Collegiate School and earned her degree in philosophy from U.Va. She received a small stipend from law school for working a public service job.

Maydosz plans to graduate a semester early, take the bar exam in February and start sending out resumes. She hopes a few months head-start on her classmates will pay off with a full-time, professional job.