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I just got a resume from someone who just took the bar (but doesn't have results yet) but lists her work experience of the last 3 years as "attorney"
Would you just send a generic rejection or actually tell them they can't hold themselves out as an attorney if they have practiced and that their job description/title should be something akin to law clerk?
Re: Attorneys
I'm going to reject them. I just wonder if I should comment that they can't call themselves an attorney unless they have a bar card
Above Us Only Sky
Anything you can achieve through hard work, you could also just buy.
I just don't even know if I could bother myself to take the time. I remember them going over this when they discussed filling out the bar application in law school ... 13 years ago! I just don't think I could take the time to explain this to someone who missed it, couldn't figure it out on their own or didn't care enough to consider it when drafting their resume.
yes. she clearly states in her cover letter that she is waiting her bar results.
Above Us Only Sky
Anything you can achieve through hard work, you could also just buy.
Not to belabor the point, but you can be waiting for bar results in one state and licensed to practice in another.
right but when it says your dates of employment as an attorney are 2007 to current but you didn't graduate law school until 2009 it is impossible to have been an attorney in 2007, 2008 and much of 2009.
Above Us Only Sky
Okay, totally. She's in the wrong.
Agreed. Although you'd probably do well to reject someone for being an idiot if they managed to omit from both their cover letter and their resume that they had passed the bar and practiced law for three years in another state.
what the hell is wrong with people? it's not like she can possible be unaware that this is impermissible. hell, if you want to do a practice clinic in law school you practically have to let everyone examine your underwear drawer before you get a LIMITED certificate to practice under supervision.
i'd definitely point out that you don't pass character and fitness once and then get to la-di-dah around the ethics rules (oh yeah, and the criminal code) for lyfe after that.
This. There is no good reason to leave that off of your resume, which leads me to believe she is completely unlicensed anywhere.
Don't most law schools make you have them review your resume before they'll even let you review their positions posted nowadays anyway? This was the case for me when I was looking for a new job 3 years ago.
NM, just got caught up.
I wouldn't be a b!tch about it. She's not "lying", she probably just doesn't understand why she can't do that, or as someone else pointed out, she was a "student attorney" in some state that allows that designation or whatever. I think rejection letter protocol is just as important as resume protocol. The only appropriate rejection letter is one that says, "Thank you blah blah. Your qualifications don't match our hiring needs blah blah." I might call her on the side and say that one of the things you considered was the fact that her resume said she was an "attorney" when she was not. But I wouldn't get real uppity about it. Since, like I said, there's a protocol that applies to you, too.
If someone graudated in 2009 put "associate" on their resume passed the bar in 2009 but didn't get sworn in until 2011 I wouldn't really question it. Partly because the job title was associate not "attorney" but also because that's fairly normal. However even associates that worked at their firms during law school generally carve out that experience as "law clerk 2007-2009" "associate 2009-present"
Above Us Only Sky
Man, I didn't even notice that. But yeah, she graduated in 2009 and has presumably been working at a firm during that time while she tried to pass the bar (re-took it???). That is a weird timeline. I might call her on the phone just to try to figure it out.
Any chance it could be a typo. I once received a secretary resume that listed her attributes as "Close atention to detail." We didn't hire her, but I did call her and tell her that she had a typo on her resume that was probably keeping her from getting jobs.
I just wanted to say that if you can call her to clarify first that would be great. If it then seems llike she has no good reason for that, then I would tell her that it's inappropriate/illegal what-have-you. I know that those who review resumes/give interviews can not give feedback because it is very time consuming (and perhaps they prefer to avoid further contact/having a confrontation), but it would be so helpful if we all knew why we were passed over. Otherwise we risk doing the same thing over and over again.