Are Things Heating Up?

Don't get too excited. I just had to make note of some observations.  I feel very strongly that we will never have a legal industry like that of pre-2008 again.  But, from my vast network of attorneys and attorney friends, I've noticed that there are more interviews in the last two months than before.  But it's not for full-time associate positions paying $75K+.  The legal industry is becoming creative.  They are offering part-time positions to attorneys.  Sometimes the pay is low, but these are jobs that I haven't seen much until recently. I have heard of people getting interviews for these type of positions.  Mind you, my friends have been out of school for a long time--so I can't say that this is good news for new grads.
Also, I have heard of and I know of big firms hiring people for what used to be called an associate position.  Is that confusing?  Well, it should be.  With these jobs, you aren't considered an associate because you're not going to become a partner (which is frankly more honest since you weren't going to become a partner anyhow as an associate).  You work as hard as an associate, but you are paid below $100K and you typically won't get an interview for a position such as this unless you have at least 5 years of experience. In short, it's the big firms' way of getting more for less.
The other type of jobs that I have been hearing about are those associated with Electronic Discovery.  Remember, with the wave of the future being outsourcing, these Electronic Discovery Companies will be making out like bandits.  These companies offer temporary jobs and a few project manager positions. I have received at least 5 calls for temp jobs in the last two weeks.  The pay was $30/hour and less and for jobs requiring 70 hours a week... so I declined.
I'm not all bad news. A job is a job, right?
But you don't need a crystal ball to see that we, as a huge group of people, have devalued ourselves so much that the legal industry had to give.  And it's giving in such a way that will result in less benefits, less pay, no stability and more sweat.
So things are heating up, but it won't be enough to absorb the overabundance of attorneys.  So, nothing has changed.  Maybe I'm wrong, but I tend to have some good insight when it comes to the industry I was blessed to join so long ago.