And the winner for the question that people most frequently asked me in 2005 is “How do you like being at a law firm?” It is not an easy question to answer. So I was thrilled when I was asked to write this article because I finally have an opportunity to give the question the answer it deserves. As I talked with people about law firm librarianship, I discovered many conceptions about law firms. Some are true; some are not. Here is what I have learned over the past year about these conceptions.
The pay is better.
It depends. This conception of law firm librarianship seems to come up a lot. Yes, there can be holiday bonuses. And, yes, the salary might be more than in academia. But this isn’t always the case. It really depends on which law school and law firm you are comparing. Some law schools have better budgets than others and, as a result, can give larger salary increases. Some law firms have a bad year and can’t give a salary increase. So, as I learned in law school, the safest answer is: it depends.
You don’t have time to be involved in any professional activities.
Myth. I still have time. Actually, it’s much easier to get involved in AALL as a law firm librarian. Let’s face it. Academic law librarians outnumber any other type of law librarian in AALL by quite a bit. So I’m finding that the law librarian community really appreciates an active law firm librarian. While it is true I don’t respond as quickly to emails and phone calls as I could when I was in academia, I do still respond. And it might take me a little while longer to get things done, but I still get them done. And if I have a deadline, I’ll still meet it. I think that the lack of participation in AALL and other extracurricular activities on the part of law firm librarians is due to a lack of incentive to endure the stress of those activities. Academic law librarians have the carrot of tenure to lure them to become active. Law firm librarians don’t really have any carrot. They have to do it out of genuine interest and desire.
The hours are awful.
Truth. Lunch and wage and hour laws have gone the way of the Easter Bunny, Santa Claus, and the Tooth Fairy. I remember them fondly. And law firms don’t have winter or spring breaks. But, with that said, my time is more my own. I have more freedom to structure my day as I want and decide how to use my time. So, for me personally, it’s not a bad trade off.
Everything is a rush.
Truth. Attorneys usually want things yesterday. But, you know what? This isn’t such a bad thing. If you only have a limited amount of time, you can only do so much; whereas, in academia, the focus on being exhaustive can take forever. I’ve become adept at what I like to call “shock and awe” research.
The bottom line is money.
Truth. There are two questions I automatically ask whenever I receive a research request. The first is “Is there a billing number?” The second is “What is the timeframe?” But, as the previous paragraph alludes, the timeframe is usually a rush. So the answer to the first question is the one I really care about. The concept of money and working for a business is where much of the law firm jargon comes into play. For example, my first week at the firm, someone mentioned biz/dev. Was this a new rap artist? No. I quickly learned that biz/dev is short for business development. So began my introduction to a whole new world of jargon … law firm speak.
Law firm librarians do a lot of legal research.
Myth. If I had time to do the math, I would estimate that 60 percent of my research is non-legal. Over the past year, I have learned how to do research that I didn’t even know was possible.
Law firms do their research online.
Myth. While we do a lot of research online, there are still resources that law firms maintain in print. The reason for this is two-fold. First, some law firms cannot afford the cost of online subscriptions to various resources. Second, as we all know, there are just some functions of print research that cannot be replaced by an electronic version of the resource.
So, this all begs the question though. How do I like being at a law firm? I like it quite a bit. I’m still learning so much and growing as a librarian. But this stems from the fact that after 4 years of being a reference librarian, I was ready for a change. I do one day hope to return to academia. I miss the students the most. I didn’t realize how much I enjoyed being part of the learning process. For now, however, I have found a comfortable niche and am pleased with the growth I have been able to achieve with this change.