The Inside Scoop: Temp Work After Graduation

By Jessica Grannis, Class of 2005

First, I took my resume and changed it specifically for doc review positions.  Many of us get intimidated when agencies want people with "document review experience" thinking we've never done document review before.  Any law student who has read through a document looking for specific legal issues has "reviewed that document."  I highlighted where I did document review in previous jobs - anytime I reviewed documents for legal issue (for example with my internships in Env. Law I reviewed a lot of Environmental Impact Statements - long tedious documents which document the environmental impacts of proposed projects and I reviewed them for issues we needed in litigation)  - and called it "hard-copy document review" (see sample text below).

Second, a suggestion I got from some temp agency was to download the software (which is free online) most big firms use to do the "online" document review.  Then put a section down at the bottom of your resume entitled "Computer Skills" listing that software.  The two most commonly used programs are Concordance and Summation.  A free version of Concordance can be downloaded at http://law.lexisnexis.com/concordance and Summation has a very helpful demo on there site which goes over all the fun functionalities. http://www.summation.com/Solutions/demos.aspx  If you have basic comfort with a computer and you've briefly played with the programs you'll be adequately prepared to go into a position doing online document review. 

Third, I learned to name drop.  If you know anyone who has worked with or interviewed at that temp agency, Say "so and so told me to call you" –staffers are much more receptive when you've been referred for some reason.

The agencies I found to be the most helpful were:

Update Legal, Certified, Employment and Blackletterdiscovery. 

Contact info is:

John Sanchez at Blackletter
john@blackletterdiscovery.com

Stacey or Jennifer at Update Legal -
415.362.3011

John Scheidt at Certified -
johns@certifiedemployment.com
(415) 433.3600

Finally, you have to be persistent.  Follow up each agency to whom you
send a resume with a call.

I did get A LOT more response from agencies when I made these changes in my
approach and was offered a couple of positions which I had to turn down.