A Mixed Blessing for Aspiring Lawyers

Some, especially those in schools with generous financial aid, can say no.

"I decided to turn it down. Why? I wanted a hands-on job in prosecution. You get better hands-on training up front," said Prince George's County native Andrew Canter, a third-year student at Stanford Law School who helped start a group called Building a Better Legal Profession. The group ranks firms based on required billable hours and the amount of pro bono work, an attraction for those who feel guilty about avoiding that Legal Aid job.

In mid-November, over beer with friends at a bar near the law campus, just off Capitol Hill, Roose-Snyder announces she has been scanning the Internet for condominiums in Chicago. Nothing too fancy. She's looking for a two-bedroom place, near public transportation -- maybe something with exposed brick walls? Besides, she says, not all the firm's clients are profit-pumping corporations.

"My firm represents tons and tons of hospitals," she says, explaining her leaning. "I consider that helping the public good."

Her friend Shai Kalansky, 26, also a third-year, explains why he took a job at the corporate law firm where he worked during the summer. "I think about the people I met. I reflect on the experience. It's about the people," says Kalansky, clad in a dark hooded sweat shirt that bore the firm's name.

"I really like that hoodie," Roose-Snyder says.

With a couple of weeks before deadline, Roose-Snyder and Keller are cooking chicken on the George Foreman grill, and she is nearing a decision. There's a new development. The O'Neill Institute is likely to give her academic credit to research a possibly groundbreaking paper. It would examine how universities can license medical research to pharmaceutical companies to help people in developing countries access lifesaving drugs.

Roose-Snyder reasons that if a prominent health-law journal publishes her research, she would feel more comfortable taking the Chicago job. The firm would give her mentorship and a sense of how the profession works. And if she wanted a public interest job down the line, a published paper could make her an attractive candidate.

"I'll make sure if we buy a condo that it would be a mortgage we could afford if I left the firm at some point later," she says. She pulls out the offer letter and inks the deal. After sealing the envelope, she raises her left arm in a gesture that says, What else can I do?

"Well," Keller says, laughing. "Don't look at me."