40% of Firms Cut Starting Associate Pay, While 44% Consider 2010 Cut

Leaders of American’s top 200 law firms are more optimistic than they were a year ago. But associates may not be sharing that enthusiasm.

An American Lawyer survey of law firm leaders found that 40 percent of the firms had reduced starting pay for their associates, and 44 percent are considering cuts next year. Venable managing partner Karl Racine sees permanent change afoot. “With associate salaries, there is no doubt there is a correction taking place," he told the American Lawyer (sub. req.).
Pay hits weren’t the only way associates suffered. Sixty percent of the firms had deferred associate start dates in 2009, and 43 percent expected to do so next year. The practice could become the norm, according to Davis Wright Tremaine managing partner Dave Baca. "It is my prediction that the industry is moving to a January start date, which makes a lot more sense," since it would come after year-end collections, Baca told the American Lawyer.
Cost-cutting also spurred associate layoffs and delayed the implementation of technology upgrades, the story says. It’s also producing smaller associate classes. Seventy-two percent of law firm managers said they expect their 2010 first-year associate class to be smaller.
The emphasis on reducing costs is helping the law firms’ bottom lines—and managers’ optimism.

Sixty percent of law firm leaders responding to the survey said they were somewhat optimistic about 2010, and 6 percent said they were very optimistic. Only 24 percent said they were uncertain about the year ahead, compared to 53 percent who were uncertain last year.
The optimism translates to increased expectations about profits per partner. Sixty-eight percent of the respondents expect profits per partner to increase in 2010, although only 21 percent expected the increase to be greater than 5 percent.

"A lot of expenses have been wrung out of the system," Morrison & Foerster chairman Keith Wetmore tells the American Lawyer. "We will see the benefit of that in 2010."
There is some good news for associates, though. Eighty-one percent of the respondents said it was unlikely that their firms would lay off associates or staff in 2010.

Companies Push for Flexible Schedules to Boost Women Attorneys

...The message, said Del Monte Foods Co. General Counsel James Potter, is that firms should tout part-timers as a selling point, not as a dirty secret...

Del Monte is one of a dozen major corporations involved in an initiative to boost the number of women and minorities in top law firm positions by adding part-time and flexible working schedules to the list of things they require of outside counsel. The initiative, spearheaded by the Project for Attorney Retention (PAR) and dubbed the Diversity & Flexibility Connection, seeks to help legal departments and law firms support flexible working schedules and ensure that part-time attorneys -- mostly women -- have meaningful work and important roles within their firms. The hope is that greater work flexibility and acceptance of part-time schedules will help stem the tide of women and minorities leaving law firms. In turn, greater retention will create a larger pool of women and minorities to promote to partnership.

"Honestly, I was just struck by the fact that I'd been staring at the statistics of women and minority women in partnership positions, and I had never made the connection that the reason those numbers have plateaued is because of career and life balance challenges," Potter said. "It's completely logical. You're never going to fully accomplish diversity without flexible work schedules.

"DISAPPEARING WOMEN
The legal industry has been wringing its hands for years about the lack of women in top-level positions. Women account for more than 45 percent of law firm associates but only 19 percent of partners, according to the National Association for Law Placement (NALP). Women make up more than half of all minority associates, yet only 2 percent of partners are minority women. The National Law Journal's 2009 survey of the nation's 250 largest firms found similar results, with women making up 45 percent of associates and 17 percent of partners. [For more on the NLJ 250 data, see "Bad times could have been worse for women." (paid subscription required)]...read more...

Ever wondered how to get the most out of your LinkedIn network? I recently received this great article that offers great suggestions. With LinkedIn you are potentially in contact with so many people, but this article helps you see how to showcase yourself to people in your network in a way that they see your best "you!" This is one worthy of your folder for a future "read." LinkedIn: http://lawyerist.com/how-law-students-should-use-linkedin/

While the number of actual applicants for judicial clerkships increased by 42%, the number of online applications increased by 66%

Administrative Law Work - Part I: Building Your Law Practice

by Carmen Mosley-Sims, Esquire

It is the best-kept secret of a successful legal practice. Do you know what it is? Litigators may tell you it’s a solid foundation in civil procedure and evidence. High-volume practitioners will tell you it’s a well-developed library of forms and templates. Judges will assure you strong writing skills will take you far, long after your legal knowledge has been exhausted. These “secrets,” however, while important to success as a lawyer, are not very secret. Anyone reasonably familiar with the practice of law could figure them out—or pay someone to tell him.

The secret I’m going to tell you really is secret. So secret, almost no one knows what it is until they have been in practice for ten years or more, and most people never know. It will not appear in any of the “build your own practice” books, and it probably does not occur to even the most well-rounded and street smart law student as she cultivates dreams of her own firm. Bowen Law School offers a course on the subject, but you have probably seen it listed on the course schedule and thought, as I did, “What a weird specialty area. That certainly won’t be any use to me.” I am, of course, talking about administrative law.

Administrative law? That subject for dyed-in-the-wool government bureaucrats? Surely I’m joking. But no, I’m not. Administrative law is the law of the executive branch. It is where the government steps down from its ivory tower on Capitol Hill and gets down to the business of governing. It is where literally every single mandatory course in law school gets applied, simultaneously, in the most convoluted and unlikely scenarios the government and the public can dream up....

Administrative Law Work - Part II: Building Your Law Practice

... More importantly for your purposes, administrative law is everywhere. When your family and friends are not asking for free legal advice about divorce and child custody, they will be asking for advice about some notice a government agency has sent them. Between the feds, the states, and the local governments, there are rules, regulations, and public policies governing virtually every aspect of our lives. Most of these deal with the flow of tax money between government agencies and from the government into the hands of private interests. Occasionally individual citizens can get a slice of the pie, such as through entitlement programs like Medicaid, TEA, Food Stamps, and child care vouchers. The questions then become, “How can I become eligible for public money for myself, my child, or my business? And once I am eligible, how can I make sure I stay eligible? And if the government tells me I am not eligible, how can I appeal and win?” To answer these questions, everyone from welfare mothers to corporate executives looks for legal counsel. And most lawyers simply do not know enough administrative law and public policy to provide answers quickly, efficiently, and effectively.

For the solo or general practitioner, administrative law could provide as much bread and butter as domestic relations. Elder law practice is a booming business in the AR, with few practitioners trying to serve a growing number of clients—individuals and families with modest resources looking for legal ways to become eligible for public benefits without bankrupting the family legacy. An attorney stuck in a litigation frame of mind will expend unnecessary time and resources fighting red tape and filing appeals. When these attorneys lose, they blame the administrative process and assume it must be biased against outsiders. Meanwhile a savvy administrative practitioner can navigate the rules and policies successfully with a fraction of the effort. Medical providers are another source of income, as these small and mid-sized businesses may need frequent legal consultation and occasional representation when their Medicaid claims get denied.

There are endless opportunities to focus a small portion of your practice on some administrative specialty to ensure a steady source of income during even the leanest times.

US Government Will Need to Go on Hiring Binge, Legal Jobs Included

According to an article in the September 2009 edition of the ABA Law Journal, the federal government needs to launch a hiring binge to replace anticipated attrition from its ranks. Read more here...
http://www.abajournal.com/news/study_us_government_will_need_to_go_on_hiring_binge_legal_jobs_included/