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Peter Meggers described himself as one of the fortunate ones ... and then quickly tacked on an adverb to punctuate that assessment.
"I'd guess I'd say I'm one of the extremely fortunate ones," said Meggers, a member of the class of 2011 at the Western New England College School of Law, who will soon be carrying a business card that identifies him as an associate with the Hartford-based firm Halloran & Sage.
He told BusinessWest that he'll be handling a diverse mix of duties, but probably a steady diet of insurance defense work to start, and will be earning a salary that exceeds expectations grounded mostly in anecdotal evidence about what he would likely find in the job market.
Much of that evidence came in the form of commentary from friends of colleagues who are simply not as fortunate as Meggers, and whose job-search results would more closely resemble the norm than the exception.
"From what I hear, not everyone is having much luck," he said, referring to classmates. "It's pretty grim out there right now."
Melanie Stevens, another of those in the 'fortunate' category, agreed. She has a job waiting for her at the Portland, Maine-based firm Friedman, Gaythwaite, Wolf & Leevit pending her passing the Maine bar exam. But most of her classmates are not faring as well.
"From I'm hearing, it's awful out there," she said. "There are no jobs, and when you do find a job, the firm wants attorneys who have experience. I don't know many people who have been able to find a job."
Art Gaudio, dean of the law school, says he probably won't have a very clear picture of just how the latest graduates of Western New England College School of law are faring in their search for employment until next February. That's when the results of a survey of that class, detailing where they are working and in what capacity, should be in. (The school waits nine months after commencement for this exercise because history has shown that this is a suitable timeframe to give graduates time to pass the bar and conduct a job search.)
But he has a pretty good idea what that survey will show.
Indeed, he predicts only slight improvement after...