By Brian Malcom 

What do you do when Rome is burning?  Honestly, I'm not sure.  I do know what you should not do: sit in the middle of the Pantheon with a cup of water.  Instead, I would suggest getting the heck out of Rome.

Harvard Law School might agree.  According to Law.com, Harvard recently advised its law students to "cast a wider net."  In other words, apply for jobs and clerkships outside of major metropolitan areas.

Rachel Breitman for Law.com writes, "Considering law firms outside major metropolitan areas might be a smart way to stay in the game, according to the school, which recommended students consider mid-Atlantic cities like Baltimore and Richmond, or Midwestern cities like Milwaukee."

Maybe ivy league law students should take a look at midsize firms while they are at it.  Last month, the Wall Street Journal reported that midsize firms are picking up clients that are tired of paying BigLaw's hourly rates. "[T]o cut costs during the recession, U.S. businesses increasingly are handing work to less expensive small and midsize firms, typically those with fewer than 200 attorneys. And while their larger counterparts are laying off lawyers, some smaller firms are hiring attorneys to keep up with new business."

Perhaps American law is in the middle of a race to the middle.  No longer is the goal to work in the largest firm in the largest city with the largest compensation package.  The goal for young lawyers has become strikingly simple: to find a good job in a fair-sized market with a stable firm that pays well.

Priorities are fickle little things.