Attorney jobs in San Diego?

November 19, 2006 6:53 AM

I'm an attorney with several decades of experience. Currently practicing in Oregon, but interested in finding a new position in the San Diego area (I've been a member of the California Bar since 1977). I've found relatively few openings using all of the usual suspects, search engines, legal websites local to San Diego and/or CA. Any suggestions or ideas as to how to find the opportunities that I'm not running across? Have really no local San Diego contacts "to plow". Interested in any substantive legal-related positions, not just attorney. Transactional or litigation.
posted by america4 to work & money (7 comments total)

IANAL, but have you tried calling a reputable legal headhunter?
posted by subtle-t at 7:05 AM on November 19, 2006

Or sending a mass-mailing to every small-to-medium size law firm that interests you in San Diego? In my experience, there are tons of firms out there that know they need someone, but have not gotten around to actually advertising for the position. If these firms receive a good resume from someone with lots of experience, somebody will snap you up.
posted by jayder at 7:27 AM on November 19, 2006

San Diego is a very tough job market and is traditionally the most resistant of all California legal job markets to out-of-towners. Give it time, plenty of time.
posted by MattD at 11:19 AM on November 19, 2006

If you'd consider a non-profit, idealist.org is crawling with listings from interesting places for lawyers to work.
posted by allterrainbrain at 10:12 PM on November 19, 2006

I second jayder's suggestion. Absolutely.
posted by dreamsign at 8:52 AM on November 20, 2006

I would get in touch with your law school's career services office, particularly if on the west coast. They'll have access to resources that are hard to find elsewhere, and they should be able to give you some helpful guidance. Plus, they're free.
posted by padjet1 at 9:49 AM on November 20, 2006

Be targeted. What have you done in the past and what are you doing now?

What kind of practice are you in now? If you are a solo practioner, I'd make sure you have a great website with the kind of thing that makes your google page rank go up. It makes it more likely that a headhunter is likely to call you. I've only been practicing for 2 years, so I was shocked when a headhunter called me out of the blue. I realized they saw my bio page on my firm's website.
posted by Ironmouth at 2:52 PM on November 20, 2006