[blindlaw] blind attorneys

Fri Nov 19 18:32:20 UTC 2010

and I know of a blind law student that was offered a summer associate position  and not offered a position after law school....the reason being that the summer associate position was a "token position" to assuage or rather show
the firm's benevolence....

----- Original Message -----
From: Sarah Clark 
Date: Friday, November 19, 2010 12:30 pm
Subject: Re: [blindlaw] blind attorneys
To: NFBnet Blind Law Mailing List 

> I think a crucial element is whether a student utilizes the 
> opportunity to 
> take summer associate positions while in law school. The blind 
> lawyers that 
> I know of (who were blind before law school) had jobs as summer 
> associates, 
> which led to job offers from those firms at the conclusion of 
> the summer. 
> Even if you do a summer job on a volunteer basis, as I know one 
> person in 
> particular did, if you show your worth during the summer, you 
> will likely 
> end up with a job offer at the end. Of course, the quality of 
> the law 
> school you attend is a tremendous factor -- the better the law 
> school, and 
> the better your grades in that all important first year, the 
> better the 
> summer positions available. My husband, who attended a top 5 
> law school, 
> said that all students he knew of received offers of employment 
> at the 
> conclusion of their summer associate jobs, and if you didn't, it 
> reflected 
> poorly on you.
> 
> Sarah Clark
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "James Weisberg" 
> To: "'NFBnet Blind Law Mailing List'" 
> Sent: Friday, November 19, 2010 8:48 AM
> Subject: Re: [blindlaw] blind attorneys
> 
> 
> >I have to distinguish, I'm getting back to Dave's comments 
> below again now,
> > between employed blind lawyers who lost sight AFTER they had 
> been employed
> > and developed a rep before going blind as being competent from 
> those who 
> > are
> > blind and thus never given the opportunity to develop such a 
> rep unless 
> > they
> > can do it on their own as I have. I just don't count blind 
> lawyers in my
> > calculation if they lost their sight after they were 
> established because 
> > my
> > point is NOT whether or not a blind person can do the work, I 
> know as I 
> > have
> > been doing it for over ten years now. My point is the effort 
> for the
> > credentials compared with the likelihood of a job offer means 
> go for
> > something else . . . that's all. So I too would love the 
> numbers on blind
> > lawyers never offered employment compared against employed 
> blind lawyers 
> > who
> > were blind prior to ever practicing!! I'm betting close to 
> > "astronomical."
> > *smile*
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindlaw-
> bounces at nfbnet.org] On
> > Behalf Of mfhurley at optonline.net
> > Sent: Friday, November 19, 2010 7:29 AM
> > To: NFBnet Blind Law Mailing List
> > Subject: Re: [blindlaw] blind attorneys
> >
> > Prospects for blind lawyers were not good in a great ecomony. 
> I agree 
> > with
> > Dennis' post wholeheartedly.
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: David Andrews
> > Date: Friday, November 19, 2010 5:26 am
> > Subject: Re: [blindlaw] blind attorneys
> > To: NFBnet Blind Law Mailing List
> >
> >> James:
> >>
> >> I would like to suggest that the unemployment rate for blind
> >> persons
> >> in most all, if not all fields of endeavor is low. While my
> >> evidence
> >> is anecdotal, I don't think that it is necessarily any worse for
> >> blind lawyers. Over the years I have known a bunch of blind
> >> lawyers,
> >> who are working.
> >>
> >> From what I read, the prospect for all lawyers isn't that good
> >> right
> >> now, so it is hard to separate the blindness penalty from the
> >> bad
> >> economy penalty.
> >>
> >> Dave
> >>
> >> At 05:55 PM 11/18/2010, you wrote:
> >> >Based upon my experience, Berkeley grad, top tier law grad,
> >> ZERO job offers
> >> >despite NEVER not getting an interview, combined with the
> >> extremely low
> >> >numbers of blind attorneys I can't think of what there might be
> >> to discuss.
> >> >My advice to anyone with vision issues considering law as a
> >> career is to not
> >> >waste their time or money they have a greater chance 
> statistically,>> >probably, of getting hit by lightening on the 
> way to law class
> >> than ever
> >> >getting an offer of employment. Now if you come from money, forget
> >> >everything I have said and just open your own firm! THAT IS
> >> THE WAY IT IS!
> >> >But there are always EXCEPTIONS. I personally wouldn't want to
> >> invest the
> >> >time and money law school requires on the hopes I'll be an 
> exception.>>
> >>
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> >>
> >
> >
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