Though almost all students graduating from Penn Law have secured full-time jobs, about a fifth face staggered starting dates and may have to go for as long as a year after graduation with no full-time job.
Those deferred will receive moderate stipends to do public service work while waiting for their jobs to start. As a result, many will have to delay repaying student loans and find alternative health insurance until the deferral period ends.
Law firms began deferring employed students in February. Some students who initially planned to start their jobs in September have been deferred by a few months, but others have been deferred until fall 2010.
Law professor David Abrams said the firms will pay students a stipend of about $60,000 per year to do pro bono and public service work during the deferral period. But on top of benefits, graduates will miss out on their full-time salaries, which at could be as much as $160,000 per year for new hires at major firms.
Penn Law Associate Dean for Career Planning and Professionalism Heather Frattone attributed the deferrals to a lowered demand for legal services due to "slowdown in commercial markets."
About 20 percent of graduating students have had their jobs deferred, she said, and one student was hired by 106-year-old Philadelphia law firm Wolf Block which voted to dissolve last month.
"When the credit crunch hit, there was no money to buy companies, so legal services for mergers and acquisitions and real-estate services slowed," Fratone said. "Law firms found themselves representing firms that no longer existed."
Law students apply for internships for the summer after their second year and are usually offered full-time positions by the same firms when they graduate.
Though most Penn Law students have promises of full-time jobs - though not always starting immediately - after graduation, Frattone attributed this to a higher demand for law students two years ago, when now-graduating students applied for internships.
When the deferrals first began, CPP contacted and met with students individually. However, as the number of students with deferred starting dates increased, CPP began reaching out to students through workshops about choosing public service projects and determining student loan repayment and health care options - since they won't receive health care benefits while waiting for jobs to officially begin.
"A large part of our services still include the one-on-one counseling," Frattone said. "We are helping affected students navigate the process."
Vice Dean of Administrative Services Jo-Ann Verrier said despite economic troubles, firms still have high interest in hiring Penn Law students, and those applying for internships have not had problems with starting dates.
She added that even international students who face challenges to get visas are having minimal difficulties finding employment.
"We have a very small number of international students in our graduating [law] class, and law firms are promising them employment to help out with the visa requirements," Verrier said. "No international student has come up to us with [visa-related issues]."
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