Job Search Update

I have a couple pieces of news regarding my job search. First, I've received a few more "We aren't hiring 1Ls" or "We aren't hiring very many 1Ls" rejection letters... But, yesterday, I also received a "non-rejection" letter. This particular firm isn't making any hiring decisions right now, but they are going to be hiring summer law clerks starting in the spring, and they want me to get back to them then. Although they did use the oft-used "we were very impressed with your resume/qualifications/head shot¹," which smacks of form letter, it was accompanied by the statement "please contact us again this spring if you don't already have a job." I think they might actually be marginally sincere. We'll see.

The other news is that I spoke to my old boss yesterday, and he suggested that I consider starting my own patent agent mini-firm² as a way of earning a little income during law school and keeping my patent-writin' chops up³. He even had a potential referral for me so I wouldn't have to start out trying to hustle for clients. I really don't know what to think about this suggestion. Part of me thinks it is a great idea because I could earn a fairly decent income without a huge time commitment⁴, but I would still have to make sure that it didn't interfere with law school. I'm going to law school to acquire the skills⁵ to be a lawyer, not to do exactly what I was doing in my old job, and if this took too much time away it might screw law school up, and tempt me to just quit completely.

Also, I don't know if I have the entrepreneurial spirit necessary to start my own business, at least not at this point in my life. And, I'm not sure that I have the resources to pull it off (I mean, I have the mental resources and experience, but not the capital). I don't really need much more than a computer, a printer, a phone, and access to a post office to do the work. But, there are other issues... like setting up a system to keep track of docketing, accounting, etc. Plus, I would probably have to get some kind of Malpractice Insurance⁶, which I'm guessing ain't cheap. Now that I think about it more and more, it may not be a good idea. Anybody else have any thoughts?

More later.

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¹What, you don't send in a head shot? How else do you get the hiring partner to say "God damn... he's smokin', we must hire him!"?
²Which, because it is referring to starting a law firm, must, by Federal Law, be referred to as "hanging out my own shingle."
³There's a chance that he may not have used this exact phrase
⁴Just as an example, if I only wrote one patent every other month, I potentially could earn half my salary that I earn at my old job, which is nothing to sneeze at.
⁵Actually, mostly just for the piece of paper that says "JD"
⁶Capital "M," Capital "I" for extra menace