Business Week had a very interesting piece titled The Lost Generation.  It basically says that people who graduate nowadays and cannot find a job is at a significant disadvantage to peers who graduated and was employed.  This sounds obvious.  But what the article goes on to say is that over the course of these two people’s lives, the one without a job currently will never be able to make up the grounds that his employed counterpart will achieve.

The same theory also works for investing in a retirement plan for example.  Starting to save for retirement when you’re 20 as oppose to when you’re 30 is not only a 10 year difference.  It is actually a 10 year compounded difference because of interest.

So what does this mean to current or recently graduated law school student?  It means that you cannot afford to sit idly by waiting for a job or someone else to give you an opportunity.  The longer you sit and wait, the more you’re losing exponentially.

In this type of economy, even if you finally decide not to do it, you should think about starting out solo because as I always say, if other people won’t open doors for you, you need to make some new ones.  Is solo practice for everyone? No.  But anyone can do it.  It doesn’t take a Harvard MBA or a trust fund baby to get a practice going.

If you’re a recent graduate in Massachusetts, come join our monthly meetings and meet other lawyers who started their practice straight out of law school.