Joan King

"I thought you would be interested in hearing about a BLS Career Services breakfast held this morning. Apparently the director of Career Services at BLS, Joan King, was asked about her reaction to the WSJ article. (Note: this breakfast is an annual event, and was not held as a reaction to the article).

Ms. King said she was contacted in the research-gathering stage by the WSJ author, who interviewed her about the job market for BLS students. She believes that there were some omissions in the article, and that the writer had an agenda: to prove his hypothesis, without highlighting some additional facts.

[Ms. King] argued that the treatment the article gave to contract attorney work was too derogatory in tone. The article ignored the facts that (1) contract attorney work can be rather lucrative, not only in monetary terms, but in terms of opportunities; and (2) many lawyers like contract attorney work, because of the freedom it allows (and again for the money it offers). She went on to say that they have not heard that the market is being scaled back in hiring, and that the outlook is good."

--Abovethelaw.com


Does this woman ever stop spinning?

Lucrative? While document review hourly rates certainly help puff up a law school's career statistics, contract attorney work really isn't all that lucrative. Unlike Ms. King's cushy position, we have to subsidize our own retirements, pay for our own health insurance, and subsidize own bar dues/CLE's. We don't accrue sick/vacation days, we are repeatedly denied OT pay, and many of us have to repay massive student loans. During a recessionary period, long stretches of unemployment are not uncommon. After the tech bubble bust, a law firm in Silicon Valley staffed a document review for as little as $12 an hour. As outsourcing steams ahead, this is only going to get worse.

The opportunities? In the legal profession, putting "contract attorney" on your resume is akin to smearing shit all over it.

The freedom? The required 80 hour work weeks, the lexolution document review torture chamber, the blacklists, the random mass firings, the moles, the constant micromanagement, the being treated like second class citizens, the lack of internet, the having to sign out to use the bathroom, the cockroaches, etc, etc. Let freedom ring!

Many lawyers like contract attorney work. Has Joan King ever stepped into the Paul Weiss basement? "Like" isn't exactly the word I would use.

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A gift from an anonymous JDUnderground poster:

ODE TO JOAN KING
("They Built This Toilet")

http://youtube.com/watch?v=TxGGckAc1rs.

by Hardship (Deferment)

Chorus:

They built this toilet, they built this toilet, on fraud an' loans
Built this toilet, they built this toilet on fraud an' loans

Say you don't owe me, say that I'm a fool
Say you don't care who goes that kind of school
Neck deep in the quicksand, living in your car
Too many graduates passing that damn bar

Joan King she plays her marks now, lies an' don't ya know, don't you forget her
They built this toilet, they built this toilet on fraud an' loans

Chorus:

They built this toilet, they built this toilet, on fraud an' loans
Built this toilet, they built this toilet on fraud an' loans

Someone's always playing accreditation games
Who cares, no one will ever take accreditation blame
We just want a job now, someone stole the work
They call us self-entitled, write us off as jerks

Ol' Valvoline Dean, he spins tha stats now, lies, an' don't ya know, don't you forget it
They built this toilet, they built this toilet on fraud an' loans

Chorus:

They built this toilet, they built this toilet, on fraud an' loans
Built this toilet, they built this toilet on fraud an' loans

It's just another workday, in a tired old street
Insurance Defense has got the chokehold, and we just lost the beat!
Who counts the money, the kickbacks to the Bar?
Who outsourced our jobs to Third World bazzars?
Don't tell us you need us, 'cos we're just simple fools
Look out America, we're coming for the TTT schools

Don't you forget now (forget now)
The deans they spin the media, listen to the lies they tell, don't you forget now
They built this toilet, they built this toilet, on fraud an' loans

Chorus:

They built this toilet, they built this toilet, on fraud an' loans
Built this toilet, they built this toilet on fraud an' loans

Chorus:

They built this toilet, they built this toilet, on fraud an' loans
Built this toilet, they built this toilet on fraud an' loans

(They built, they built this toilet) built this toilet (they built, they built this toilet now) (repeats out)