Home 21<sup>st</sup> Century Legal Careers Tricks of the Trade (and Professional) Associations: A Huge “Hidden” Legal Job Market

Tricks of the Trade (and Professional) Associations: A Huge “Hidden” Legal Job Market

21st Century Legal Career Series Volume 13

Contents
Focus: What This Booklet Is All About
An Association Primer
Why Is the Association Job Market Hot?
Where Do Lawyers Work in Associations?
Selected JD Advantage Job Titles
Positioning Yourself for an Association Legal Job
What Do Association Jobs Pay?
Advance Notice of Association Job Opportunities
Follow-Up

Legal career opportunities in the 95,000 U.S. trade and professional associations often go unexplored by job-seekers.  Formed as non-profits, these associations share four features that should be of interest to every attorney:  1. They have substantial assets (more than $2 trillion in the aggregate);  2. They employ tens of thousands of attorneys; 3. You can find these attorneys in places other than just the in-house counsel office;  4. They are corporations. Consequently, they share many of the structural features of their for-profit counterparts. Lawyers who work for their in-house counsel offices have many of the same responsibilities as their commercial company brethren.

Why Do Associations Hire Attorneys? The principal reason attorneys are prized by associations is because so much of what these organizations do is informed and infused by law. Almost every aspect of association work has some legal orientation or component, or requires legal input. Lawyers are in the best position to serve in an array of association positions because they can perform so many of the missions that give rise to associations, make them relevant, and keep them in business.

In Volume 13, Tricks of the Trade (and Professional ) Associations, Hermann takes you behind the scenes and details how you can build a fulfilling career in this often overlooked, vibrant career arena.  Buy the print edition at the NALP bookstore or the electronic version.