Are there specific jobs for injury lawyers or accident lawyers? Absolutely, and we want to focus on some of the jobs available in this fast-growing legal area with news about what is happening in the whole personal injury space.

In the midst of the tight recession, many law firms (across the board – not just personal injury firms) dramatically reduced the number of schools they visited for recruiting purposes. Firms across the nation have delayed start dates for newly minted attorneys. Howard University School of Law people say many law graduates accepted deferrals of three months or longer, plus stipends and lower than agreed-upon salaries. Some firms required these graduates to work in the interim at a government or public interest agency.

Other law firms have grown pickier about whom they hire, narrowing their recruitment choices to the most elite schools. It’s a move that tends to exclude minority students, who often come from lower-tier schools where tuition is more affordable and which are more likely to offer flexible night programs. “That’s accurate,” says Jason Murray, a lawyer for the firm Carlton Fields, describing the tough hiring landscape. “Lots of schools get left out. For some graduates, it’s like being a walk-on to a team rather than being a high lottery pick.”

This apparently holds true among graduates seeking employment outside the profession, too. Robert Lewis has had only three interviews for government affairs work in Washington, D.C., since graduating last year from Catholic University’s Columbus School of Law — even though he spent four years as a legislative aide for a U.S. senator and 18 months as a lobbyist prior to enrolling at Catholic. “Reputation is everything, and if you don’t come from a top-tier school like Georgetown, George Washington or American, it’s tough getting employers to look at you,” he says.

DiverseEducation.com reports:

The law firm Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton is among the firms still reaching out to students of color. Attorneys there have tutored urban New York City high school students for the SAT and mentored them to go to college since 1991. When firms everywhere were clinging to business and shuttering sluggish practices in 2009, more than 100 Cleary Gottlieb attorneys and staff still mentored 400 students. Arthur Kohn, a partner and co-chairman of the firm’s diversity committee, called the effort “indicative of the deep buy-in among our people. It doesn’t bear fruit immediately but instead, long-term.”

At Carlton Fields, an academic-year fellowship has been carved into two $5,000 scholarships to be awarded annually to law students from underrepresented groups who will work at the firm alongside other summer associates. Officials say the change will enable the scholarship winners to compete with their peers for full-time jobs. Unlike many firms, Carlton Fields didn’t downsize its summer associate class during the recession. In 2010, the program employed 13 students. The firm has hired 10 of them; four are openly gay or ethnic minority, numbers typical in recent years.

Injury lawyer or accident lawyer jobs are similarly difficult to locate, but the need for flexibility and resourcefulness will prevail as the upturn begins.

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