How To Keep Your Day Job

Okay, I admit that many could have used this advice long before now. And I apologize. However, I only recently entered the legal recruiting industry. I finally started blogging just this month. So once again, my apologies to those that receive this piece of advice too late.

So why am I writing about keeping your day job? Well, we are in a recession. Sorry Mr. President, but I must tell it as it is. It's true, we are in a recession so attorneys need to adjust their behavior accordingly to survive this downturn. I am a believer that once you talk openly about the elephant in the room - or in this case, the ten thousand ton elephant in the room - we can move in a positive direction.

In an August 20, 2008 article, Worst Year for Big Firms Since 2001, Says Citi Expert by Dan DiPietro, Mr. DiPietro states that this year represents the worse revenue growth for big firms in seven years. In addition, the demand for legal services is the lowest it has been in seven years.

Others take the position that this downturn is more analogous to the downturn of the early nineties. Evidence indicates that the issues of the current downturn run deeper than the slow market of 2001. Experts simply see the current snowball effect as more complicated than the problems of 2001.

So what happened? Why are the big firms having such a rough time? Why are layoffs becoming a common theme? Why are first year associates being told that their start dates have been pushed back to sometime in 2009? Or worse, there will be no start date. Well, the big firms' bread and butter transactional practices had many clients in the financial sector, such as high-end private equity, real estate finance, securitization and structured finance, that are no longer able to provide the same level of business. The same client base that provided these big firms with enormous profits during the prior six years are going belly up as a result of the mortgage and credit crisis. The Bear Stearns and Countrywide Mortgage fiascoes are prime examples. Don't even get me started on the auction rate securities scandal that includes many of the world's largest banks.

Another issue is that due to the recession, associates are not leaving the firms as they have done in previous years. Associates are deciding to be thankful that they have a job and stick with it instead of trying to find a new one. As a result, the big firms have too many attorneys on staff and not enough work to go around. Plus, while revenues are down, the firms are still paying huge associate salaries to associates they had expected would have left the firm in search for greener pastures at this point.

Mr. DiPietro does point to a silver lining in his August 20 article. He states that this downturn "will enable firms to take steps that partners would resist in a good year--winnowing out unproductive lawyers and applying greater discipline to expense control." Yup, you read correctly. The silver lining includes "winnowing out unproductive lawyers." Yikes! The free ride is over my big firm attorneys.

So what can attorneys do to make sure they don't receive the pink ticket from their big firm and the lost of their large paychecks? First, they need to make themselves invaluable. When I was an associate, my fellow associates and I always joked that we were dispensable. Well, putting joking aside, associates are until they prove that they aren't. Start finding ways to make yourself indispensable. Develop your writing and communication skills. Become knowledgeable in little niche topics within your area of practice. Hard to get rid of the attorney who is the only one who understands HUD's ILSA regulations. Huh? Exactly.

Next, think of new creative ways to bring in business. Yes, I know you are just an associate, but if you can figure out some ways to bring some significant business in, then you will definitely move up on the associate favorite list. Getting your name out into the community through bar activities or publishing articles is an excellent start. Remember, law firms are a business and the bottom line matters. Place a law firm in a recession, and that bottom line is all the partners can think about. You will definitely stand out if you start looking for ways to help that bottom line.

Also, try and add qualifications to your resume. It is never too late to add new areas of practice to your resume. If you practice labor and employment law, maybe expand into immigration or ERISA. Knowledge of either area can only assist in your labor and employment practice. If you practice real estate, then maybe also expand your knowledge to finance, lending and/or bankruptcy. Always look for ways to expand your horizons.


Lastly, and most importantly, please do not panic. Remember that the legal market has been down before and has bounced back. The United States has a very resilient legal market and we will all survive this downturn. It is only a matter of how you go about ensuring your survival.