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Good morning. I am currently a senior associate in BugLaw, and I have applied to several trial attorney jobs in Chicago offices of federal agencies since the start of the pandemic. According to usajobs.gov, my applications to the DOJ and CFTC were “referred,” and my application to the SEC was received and my GS scale verified. But I haven’t received any updates on these applications in over a month. Does anyone here have any insights on these or on federal hiring generally? Thanks!
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Do solos get to write off pro bono work at all?
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What state are you in?
First month of practice and you can’t hook business yet!?!?
Relax. Come back and complain 8 years in please.
Don’t be so glib. OP is not complaining.
My advice is to find a couple of established solos that you can do overflow work for (giving them a referral cut) and instead of getting mentors to give you a phone number, have them refer the client to you through a referral agreement. Straying from your core practice area to pay the bills is very very risky (although admittedly sometimes necessary). I represent solo and small law firms as outside General Counsel, DM me if you’d ever like to chat.
You should do a mock intake consultation with one of your mentors, to get some feedback. Or you could, with permission, include a mentor on one of your consultations, with you taking the lead. You might unintentionally be turning some of these potential clients off, and there might be an easy fix that someone with more experience could spot.