Honesty is Refreshing!

The Lost Generation--that's you, folks!  Crain's put out an article spelling out the cold, hard truth:

Young lawyers in New York are not supposed to have to wait tables or string together temp jobs until they get their big break—that kind of seat-of-your-pants lifestyle used to be reserved for aspiring actors.

Not these days. The traditional career path—which assured law students that if they studied diligently and racked up good grades, a decent legal position would await them at the end of law school—has been all but washed away by the financial crisis, which has caused the New York legal industry to contract by 10% over the past year.

Waiting tables.  Stripping.  Working as a barrista at the local Starbucks.  Finally, the truth.  Being a lawyer isn't all it's cracked up to be.  Namely, it's not even being a lawyer.

“We're being called the lost generation,” says Shorav Kaushik, a 2009 Brooklyn Law School grad. Despite interning with the New York Attorney General's office, finishing in the top half of his class and winning a fellowship at the New York City Environmental Control Board, Mr. Kaushik has been unable to land a full-time law job.

Boo hoo, Shorav.  How many of BIDER readers went to better schools and finished in the top quarter of their class, and still don't have a job?  What about those that GOT a job, and because of stylish deferments, still don't have a job.

Indeed, 22,000 law jobs disappeared during the year ending in May. The 88% employment rate for the class of 2009 was the lowest in nearly two decades, according to the National Association of Legal Professionals. 

I hate the NALP for citing this figure.  88%?  That's a statistic that certainly includes all of those in the private industry, such as those working at Banana Republic and Johnny Rocket's and those working as Independent Contractors for shitlaw firms.  It's no wonder that bloggers and our sympathizers are called "whiners" with bogus stats such as this. I wish it was 88%.

Ramit Singh doesn't need to be told. The 28-year-old finished in the top 25% of his class from New England Law and came to New York nearly two years ago to pursue entertainment law. He tried volunteering at entertainment law firms, with no luck. He has strung together freelance positions at a music-licensing company, a part-time stint at a social media company and a volunteer gig at the New York State Supreme Court. He also does freelance document review. “It's a lot of really small irons in a big raging fire,” he says.

While he doesn't regret becoming a lawyer, “I didn't think I'd be hustling like this,” he says. “I had three jobs last month.”

That's what it comes down to, hustling.  Hustling is certainly what I've been doing to get by. You hustle your ass off.  Some months, you make it.  Some months, you don't.  Your savings decrease. Your credit card balances increase.  You're exhausted and you don't have health insurance, so you just hope that something stable comes through.  I'm a hustler.  Chances are, so are you--or:

Some new lawyers have responded by doing the unthinkable—working for nothing.

After graduating from New York Law School last year, Alyssa Farruggia ended up volunteering nearly full-time for the Staten Island courts. “You have your sights on the job at a big firm, but when that doesn't happen, you've got to do something else,” explains the 25-year-old Staten Islander, who lives at home. “The most important thing was keeping my résumé going.”

Most of the city's law schools last year started working with the New York State Unified Court System, channeling grads into its Volunteer Attorney Programs, so local courts are now flooded with young lawyers looking for experience and something to do. 

Working in New York, I've actually run into bunches of these kids.  If I represent a creditor, they represent the debtor.  They lifelessly argue their *extremely* valid points in the halls of civil court.  Their  eyes are dead, their clothes are dirty and torn, they look broken. I feel for these young lawyers, but it's not bunches better for this older lawyer.

People think that the legal industry goes in cycles.  By all accounts, we've been hit by several "bad" markets: the eighties, the dot.com bubble burst, post 9/11 economy and now this.  The lemmings who just started law school last week, are convinced that hiring will miraculously pick up in 2013.  However, this isn't a slump--it's a sputter of a dying engine.  The legal industry is shot.  Only when people believe that, and refuse to mortgage their futures on the chance that things will get better in three years, will we have any chance of salvaging our crippled industry.

You're not being smart going to law school. It blows to start off at the bottom rung of any company because you "only" have a college diploma.  But you're better off than you will be if you do the responsible thing and go on to get an advanced degree.

Big Law Associates Deferred, but Getting Air Time.

Worth listening to.  

Compare and contrast that with this article, entitled "Law Firms Express ‘Growing Enthusiasm’ for Contract Lawyers."  In this article, it states:

This year, 10 percent of the firms plan to cut associates, 38 percent plan to reduce or discontinue hiring first-year associates, and 54 percent plan to shrink their summer programs.

At the same time, law firms are instead expressing a “growing enthusiasm” for a staffing alternative—contract lawyers, according to an Altman Weil press release. Last year, 39 percent of the law firms used contract lawyers. This year, 53 percent will or might do so, while 52 percent expect that contract lawyers will become a permanent part of their staffing plans.

Yes.  The connection is clear as June 21st is long.  Law Firms are capsizing and/or imploding.  The lawyers of today will be contract attorneys, working for 70 hours a week and no benefits.  I laugh when I hear young lemmings talk about the economy improving and how jobs will be available once that happens. It won't happen.  Law firms are on a permanent trek to finding a cheaper way to provide legal services and contract attorneys are the glaringly obvious solution.  And the contract attorneys of yesteryear, TTT and TT graduates, will be pushed out in favor of T14 contract attorneys.  If anyone from the ABA is reading this blog, I implore you to do something about this.  Our industry is sinking fast.  Does someone in the basement of BigLaw need to go postal on a firm to get the ABA to stop accrediting law schools?   They should be taking accreditation away from TTT sewer schools.  With every unemployed graduate put out in the market, the value of our work decreases to pennies on the dollar.  The ABA has the power to stop this madness.  UGH. I can't handle this type of news anymore.

Happy Tuesday.

Prof. Tamanaha and My Place in the Higher Education Scam Movement

Much has been said throughout the law blogosphere about Professor Brian Tamanaha's thoughts on the law school model and the "vulgar" law scam bloggers. I recommend taking the time to read all of the responses from Jobless Juris Doctor, Exposing the Law School Scam, Outside Lies Magic, and Shilling Me Softly under our blogroll. I especially recommend reading Jobless Juris Doctor's very powerful post, "Student's Pay So Professors Can Play", in response to Professor Tamanaha's admission that he is perfectly fine earning as much as he can with lots of time for research and conferences, even if those costs come from charging students with little job prospects hundreds of thousands of dollars. No mention of actual teaching said students, but never mind that. We all know a passion for teaching is not the main reason why law professors do what they do.

In doing so, Tamanaha recognizes himself and his colleagues on the side of the ruling class who have little to no concern about the masses that struggle to survive in order to make sure that they remain well fed. These accommodationists know they are part of an unjust system and, to his credit, Tamanaha is the first to acknowledge his role in it. The condescension dripping from his admission came at no surprise. This feeling is common for the elites when they are forced to admit that their riches come at the expense of destroying (or being part of a system that destroys) thousands of lives, both literally and figuratively.

Like the BP executives and their chairman who "wants his life back", they care enough about the "small people" to acknowledge that we exist, that they make lots and lots of money off of our existence, but that our lives aren't important enough for them to make any significant changes that could jeopardize putting even a dent into their wealth and fine living. Do I expect much to come from Tamanaha's admission? Not really. But it's a step in the right direction if we get more of the "serious people" talking about the problem, if only to give our blogs more traffic and make more people aware that we exist as a source of support and awareness for prospective law school students as well as unemployed graduates and attorneys.

This is why Angel and I continue BIDER. We aren't "vulgar" and we aren't "angry, unemployed graduates and bloggers trying to write their way out of debtor’s prison". Elie Mystal of all people should know this. He wrote a post in January admitting that he graduated from Harvard Law School with $150k in student debt:

I graduated law school in 2003, owing Harvard University just under $150,000. At the time, I had no idea what starting my professional career $150K in the hole would do to my life. I figured I’d work hard, make money, and pay my loans out of my general non-disposable income funds — kind of like my cable bill.

Seven years, two careers, numerous deferments and defaults, and one global economic meltdown later, I still owe a ton of money. Now, however, I pay it to various debt collection agencies and lawyers. When prospective landlords run a pro forma credit check on my application, they come back looking at me like I’ve been convicted of multiple war crimes. Every raise I’ll ever get will be eaten up by the collection agencies until sweet death allows me one everlasting and satisfying default. And, oh yeah, I don’t even want to practice law anymore — I quit my Biglaw job because, despite the debt, I really wanted to have a job that I enjoyed. So I essentially purchased a $150,000 disposable good. My time working in Biglaw was kind of like a very expensive vacation that I debt financed.

I mention all this because I am the cautionary tale prospective law students never want to think about. I mention all this because it is noble to crush false hope. I mention all this because there are way too many people poised to follow in my financially ruinous steps.

And isn't that what the scam bloggers have been doing all along for little or no compensation? Warning people each and everyday that law school and taking out $100K+ in student loans is a really bad idea, especially in a jobless era? So, it's only cool to leave the law profession entirely with $150k in debt if you attended a top law school. But if a similar fate befalls others, either willingly or unwillingly, we are angry bloggers trying to write our way out of debtor's prison? Sure, whatever.

Here is a little recap. Our regular readers know that I attended a T14 law school and Angel attended a top 30 law school. We have both interned or worked at NYC law firms. Angel was laid off from Biglaw. Maybe I wasn't smart enough to decide against law school, but I was smart enough to have most of my college education paid for with scholarships and financial aid. I owe less than $50k in private loans with low interest rates. I have been underemployed for most of 2009 and 2010 and have a non-law related, full-time job offer that starts in several months. Plenty of my friends and classmates from law school who graduated from both the bottom and top of their class are unemployed. In the end, it didn't matter that they went to Harvard undergrad or graduated magna cum laude from a prestigious T14, because they are still in the same horrible position as the rest of us. Go figure.

So sorry to disappoint the law school cartel and ATL who like to generalize all of the scam bloggers as bitter TTT losers, but a lot of us are quite accomplished, at least on paper. Which goes to show our readers that unemployment, underemployment, and life destroying debt can happen to anyone regardless of law school rank. Debt is debt regardless of who you are or where you went to school. It doesn't matter if you go to Harvard Law or Cooley Law, $150k in student debt will destroy your life unless you are one of the few graduates today who will go on to make Biglaw partner or become part of the law school scam. Don't want to hate your life at the expense of making a Biglaw salary? Then don't go to law school, even if it's a T14. You will never be able to pay off your debt otherwise.

This is why Angel and I continue to blog and maintain a place for the unemployed to vent their frustrations. Get used to us because we are making a positive difference and we expect to blog for a very long time considering that the economy is not expected to get back on track until at least 2015. There will be thousands more joining us in the coming years. At least we know we're on the right side of the fight.

Quotes of the Day (Updated)

The generation before me came to the conclusion I was worth the investment. Maybe my generation is a little too selfish.

- Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Paul H. Anderson who graduated in 1968 with no debt and a 1965 Mustang.

The more urgent question is: What do you tell people who are thinking about going to law school? I don't recommend it to people looking to make a lot of money. ... If you're not interested in helping people in some way or providing service to your clients, it's not for you.

- From the same Star Tribune article, law school shill Niels Schaumann, vice dean for faculty at third tier toilet William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul, Minnesota.

How about not recommending William Mitchell College of Law to anyone who wants to find a full-time job after spending $52,000 yearly tuition? That way, shills like Schaumann would no longer make an average of $104,832 yearly blaming unemployed graduates for being too greedy.

- HardKnocks from But I Did Everything Right! in response to Niels Schaumman's dishonest and shameful comment in the Star Tribune.


Update, May 30th: A William Mitchell College of Law graduate stopped by with the following comment below. Are you listening Schaumman and WMCL shills? This is one of your many graduates drowning in debt and working for $11 an hour doing temp work. What are you doing about it besides blaming them for being greedy or not hustling enough? How can you sleep at night knowing you make six-figures off the backs of your unemployed graduates and still have the audacity to ask them for contributions?? Thank you to the WMCL grad for stopping by and sharing your tragic story and pointing out that the job shortage is nothing new. It's just that the media is jumping on this story now that the top tier grads are suffering too.

Hope all of our readers are having a relaxing Memorial Day weekend. I'm back to helping out with the backyard BBQ.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for posting this article, Hardknocks. I am a WMCL grad - although I have pretty much severed all ties to that place after the Dean sent me a letter begging for MORE money AFTER I had already made a contribution and stated in his letter, "[Insert my name here], would you really be as far as you are today if not for your law degree?" As you can imagine, this irritated me to no end and I decided to never give one cent to that place again.

As for the gentleman featured in the story, I actually know him. Ironically, right after I graduated from WMCL with HONORS, I was working as a TEMP for $11/hour at the same place where he was working for the summer doing some humiliating clerical type of work. This was back in the early 2000's. He was going off to Korea to be with his girlfriend. Anyway, the reason I mention this is because there was a legal job shortage even back then, but nobody believed it. This is NOT new, people, so I don't understand why everybody acts like this all happened it the last 2 years. I have been out of school for almost 7 years, and a majority of my classmates are drowning in debt and working piddle a$$ jobs just to make ends meet and pay their student loans. It annoys me that suddenly now this is "news" - why wasn't it news seven years ago? Maybe some of these people wouldn't be in the shape they are in, if the media had listened or cared back then!

Thoughts on the Georgetown Law/NPR Segment

I'm a little late posting my thoughts since I only listened to the interview ten minutes ago. You can visit Fluster Cucked and Attorney to Temp to read what other scam bloggers thought about the NPR segment.

Reader "Minneapolis 3L" made the following comment about the interview in our open thread last night. I think his opinions sum up a lot of the sentiment I've been hearing around the web from scam bloggers and our readers. We all know that T14 and TTT grads can't find jobs. The question the mainstream media should be asking is why is the law school scam and outrageous tuition rates allowed to continue?

As the mainstream media slowly picks up on the story of law school being financial suicide for the vast majority of graduates, I noticed NPR did a story on Friday about underemployed law students. It was a strange format, a five-member panel of Georgetown law students. While the lead-in made it sound like NPR would tell everyone how much of a scam law school is, the piece turned out to be fluff, with all of the students saying something like "oh well, I won't make 160k right out of school, but I will have a decent life in government work." EVEN the 3Ls whose plan was to "move to California and shack up with my solo practitioner pal."

These 3Ls were a bunch of ninnies who were obviously hedging and not placing a toe out of line. They probably were lined up for the panel by GULC's career services office. Despite two or three of the panel members really having NOTHING solid and lined up, they made it sound like they were just happy to "settle" for a job that paid under 160k. No one came flat out and said "we are unemployed and grasping at straws, fuck you GULC for charging us 150k," even though that was clearly the situation for two, and maybe three, of them. Only two of them had real jobs, one with the federal mine safety agency, and one with some legal aid org on the West coast...sounded like volunteer work actually.

Anyway, I had high hopes for this story, but NPR dropped the ball and basically turned it into a fluff piece about how law school can still give you a great job in government or public interest, just not in biglaw anymore. LOL. I'm sure any 0L or their parents listening naively breathed a big sigh of relief and cut a check for their seat deposit in the class of 2013. "Well, I won't be making 160k at biglaw, but at least I will have a decent federal job and it's probably less stressful than biglaw anyway. Law school is a great choice."

I think Minneapolis 3L makes some good points. After listening to the interview, I wouldn't call the Georgetown 3Ls ninnies. Yes, a few of them are more optimistic than those of us who have been unemployed for awhile and have come to the realization that things won't get better soon enough to help any of us. But a few of them made really great points about the problems with the structure of law firms and how they knew they got the rough end of the stick because they'd never get the chance of working at a biglaw firm. You either get a biglaw job offer after your 2L summer or you're out of the game forever. From the transcript:

Mr. LEWIS: I think that a lot of the real problem that's happened at legal profession is that now we're suffering because the economics of the large law firm just doesn't work. You know, I think that's why you see not many of the firms have gone under, but one of the things that I hope that does come out of this is a restructuring of it.

And maybe law students are going to have to realize that coming out of law school after a three-year education and expecting $160,000 a year is just not a realistic business model.

Ms. BOGO: I do think that our generation be it our year or the year behind us and maybe the year in front of us or something like that, I think we did kind of get the rough end of a stick just because we didn't know that the economy was going to take a downturn when we signed up for X number of loans every year.

And if the economy does turn around, which I'm optimistic maybe because I have to be, but if the economy does turn around and law firms start hiring again, they're not going to hire us. They're going to hire the class that's behind us, who are coming straight out of law school, who they can train up in the way that they always have.

SIEGEL: Because this is a career in which you get on the escalator at a...

Ms. BOGO: Yeah.

SIEGEL: ...particular time, in a summer when you're at law school. They look you over and you look them over. And then you...

Ms. BOGO: Yes. Law firms generally don't hire you out of government or out of, you know, being a private practitioner. They generally hire you straight out of law school or from another comparable firm.

I sympathize with these students because they aren't any better off than the rest of us and are in for a rocky year. Just give those 3Ls a few more years unemployed or underemployed in a job that doesn't pay enough to payoff their loans and they'll be a lot more frustrated with their situation than they are now. NPR can find plenty of T14 grads from several years ago who never found a job or were laid off and have been unemployed ever since. Graduates a few years in the real world are likelier to complain about their law school experience and troubles paying off their six-figure debt. But that is assuming the mainstream media wants to question the law school scam at all. As Frank at Fluster Cucked said:

I don't know what NPR is like in other cities, but in my area NPR airs "support for NPR" ads from law schools, including one from Boston University (which airs nationally, I assume). Perhaps NPR doesn't want to risk angering its supporters. I suppose that that is a sensible policy, but it calls into question the network's journalistic independence.

Much of the mainstream media is corporately owned or depend on the support of universities and large donors who are on the board of a university. I'm not holding my breath for the mainstream media to rock the boat if it means angering very rich and powerful people, whether they be in politics, business, or the education scam.

Please post your thoughts on the interview in the comments section below.

More Reasons Not to Go to Law School

The New York Times City Room blog recently posted a Q & A with a career counselor. Readers sent in their questions and the career counselor answered them in the most polite, PC way possible. Regular readers here know that Angel and I are more blunt about law school being a big mistake for MOST people who either don't have the grades or law school prestige to enter BigLaw, end up in BigLaw but get laid off or quit in a few years, or end up in an established law career yet feel completely trapped because they are unfulfilled and miserable after spending three years and thousands of dollars on a degree that is useless outside of practicing law. Yay! Here are a few of the questions from an established lawyer and a recent law grad that the NYT career counselor answered. My answer is below in red.

I majored in media arts for my undergraduate degree. Because of my creative interests, I became a graphic/Web designer, but was laid off early in my career. With few job prospects and limited opportunities to make a decent salary in design, I decided to go to law school. I have been practicing trademark and licensing law for the past five years and have yet to find my passion for the law. I do not feel that the legal field speaks to my interests and passions, namely art, design, music, geography, history, etc. I have thought about using my love for music by moving into entertainment law, but the basic job description would be similar to my current role and so I don’t feel that in the end I will be fulfilled.

I am giving serious thought to a complete change in career and moving into architecture, landscape architecture or urban planning (these fields seem to combine elements of several of my interests). Harvard has a six-week exploratory program that would allow me to see what is involved in this field. From there I could determine if going back to school is a worthwhile option. I am hesitant after spending so much time and money on law school to go back to school again, but it is clear that the law is not for me. Do you think that this kind of a program would be a good use of my time and money, and help me find a career better suited to my interests and skills?

— Posted by Oliver

I can certainly understand your hesitancy to spend more money on education and training after investing the time, money and energy into obtaining a law degree and that you’re no longer interested in practicing law.

I think you are certainly on the right track to evaluate how you can integrate your passions for art, design, music, geography and history into what you do next. Your decision to explore architecture, landscape architecture or urban planning seems more aligned with your passions than law does. You state that you are giving it serious thought, which I assume means that you have gone through a thorough brainstorming exercise, generated many different career options and then narrowed it down to those listed above.

Creating numerous options and vetting the interests and risks of those options on paper is an important activity to invest in before actually making a monetary investment. Many of my clients come up with as many as 10 or 15 different career options to evaluate and then prioritize. I encourage you to do the same, if you have not already.

Your hesitancy in making the decision to invest in Harvard’s six-week exploratory training program indicates to me that you might not have enough information to make this investment decision. I encourage you to identify what your concerns are, formulate smart questions and then ask people in these fields to help you address your concerns. By doing so you will gain the clarity you need be able to make a better informed decision.

Good luck Oliver.

HardKnocks' Answer: Hi, Oliver. Law school is a mistake for anyone who considers themselves to be creative and artistic. I fall into that category. Growing up I was very musical, artistic, and enjoyed creative writing. If my college career counselor had any idea what law school was really like, she would've immediately told me not to apply because law is generally not an area where talented people can express their creative side in their work. Outside of public interest law, being a lawyer is for boring people with no passions other than to make a lot of money or dream about making a lot of money in the basement of BigLaw doing temp work while practicing shitlaw on the side. Before you became a lawyer, you worked in graphic/web design. You clearly have more practical non-legal skills that the average lawyer and would likely be able to use that to leave the law for a more fulfilling career.

You are absolutely correct in feeling hesitant about spending more money on an education that may or may not help you find a job in architecture or urban planning. First of all, how much is this six-week Harvard exploratory program?? Have you spoken to people who have participated in this program and did they feel that it was worth the price to attend? If not, what else can you do to work in this field temporarily without having to spend thousands of dollars on a so-called exploratory program? Can't you do the same thing for free with an alumnus from your college? Would it be more worthwhile and cheaper to do an internship with a local architect or urban planner instead? What are the current job prospects for recent urban planning/architect graduates and what is the average salary for a recent graduate?

Finally, do you have a plan to leave law and live off of your savings for a considerable amount of time until you make the decision to return to school or will be able to find an entry level job in this economy? I don't think your hesitancy comes from not knowing what you want to do. I am almost certain that you want to leave the law and I can't blame you. Your hesitancy is from not knowing which option will allow you to spend as little money as possible to get to where you want to be. Law school isn't the only school that is a waste of time and money for most graduates. I've come across intelligent people with graduate degrees in public policy, international relations, journalism, and business who have been unable to find jobs in recent years. Older people established in their careers and school counselors (who are paid to tell you that more school is a good idea) have no idea what us young folks are going through so the best thing to do in your research is to google about blogs like this one started by recent graduates. I just googled "urban planning degree worthless" and came across the following articles:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100320152006AA7HMnP


http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/30/what-is-a-masters-degree-worth/




Don't make the same mistake twice. Do your research and make sure that this is something you really want to do, will pay enough for you to pay off your loans, and will allow you to use your creative side. Good luck.

- HardKnocks

I recently graduated from law school and took the bar exam. Now, I am searching for an entry-level attorney position in a market where there are several more-experienced people competing for the same position. How do I make my résumé stand out among the crowd?

— Posted by Kelly

Yes, it is a highly competitive job market for law school graduates these days, and your question about how to stand out among the crowd is an important one. In addition to your grades and the schools you attended, other differentiators that employers will look at will be how well you balanced school and internships. Within those internship experiences, which I assume you have, be sure to highlight examples of how you demonstrated leadership, solved problems, applied critical thinking, developed new ideas and effectively dealt with change and ambiguity. These are some of the essential resiliency skills that many of today’s employers seek in all levels of candidates.

I also encourage you to demonstrate your people skills to future employers by using networking as a key method of your overall job search strategy and not rely solely on applying to job banks or working with recruiters.

Good luck Kelly!

HardKnocks' answer: Erm, "several more experienced people competing for the same position"? How about thousands upon thousands more experienced lawyers who can't find a damn thing in this market. Just ask experienced lawyers like Angel. Instead of asking the NYTimes counselor for advice, you should have just googled "law school scam movement" and that would've given you the answer you needed. Maybe not the answer you want to here but an honest account of what things look like for recent law school graduates and mid-career attorneys like Angel who were laid off and are currently competing with us young 20-somethings for a job. Because I don't know your GPA or law school, I have no way of giving you an honest estimate of your chances of landing a job right now. I'm sorry to say this, but there is little that a recent graduate can do to stand out amongst thousands of resumes unless you graduated at the top of your class from a T14 school. And even those people (I know a few of them personally) cannot find a job right now. Yep, law review, T14, dual degrees, published articles, prestigious internships, and all that jazz and still can't find a job. If you graduated from a top law school with good grades, the only thing you can do is network. If you graduated from a third tier school or have bad grades, I recommend searching outside of the legal market for a job. Good luck.

- HardKnocks

Is This a Good Sign?

It seems as if the decades of reaping Corporations for legal fees are over.  Corporations have wised up and decided that outside counsel is too expensive, when you can bring attorneys in-house.  It's about time.

There were many days, while working for Big Law, that I wondered what the hell the in-house legal department does on a daily basis--if not my job.  Of course, I do live by the saying, "He who represents himself has a fool for a client."  However, there are many things that need to be done in a case that don't have to be moved to outside counsel right away.  At the very least, in-house counsel and outside counsel should be working in conjunction to save money and time.  Not to mention the fact that it is probably more effective to work with attorneys who were probably witness to the incident and know facts, custom and practice and names--more so than any green associate at a big firm.  I'm sure that the learning curve would be shortened if ALL the attorneys worked together.

Do I think this is a sign of the recovery?  Heck no!  I think this is a consolidation and simplification of legal services.  For every in-house counsel that is working on a case, there will be two attorneys at the firm that aren't needed to do the same job.  That's my estimate--from the cases that I have been involved in.  So, this type of move is going to lend itself to a shrinking of the legal industry.  Do you agree?

Also, in-house counsel positions are among the most coveted in the industry.  Corporations, not being Big Law, don't adhere to their retarded business model.  As such, to a Corporation, green attorneys from Harvard and Yale won't be the ideal candidates.  Instead, attorneys with demonstrated skills in particular fields of law will be the ones to snap up these jobs--should they materialize.

I still think that there is/will be a lost generation of attorneys.  Attorneys with under 3 years of experience and those that are in law school now will bear the brunt of the recession.  They were laid off or never hired and will not be given the opportunity to learn the necessary skills to be considered in-house counsel material.  As any lawyer knows, you know nothing the day you graduate from law school.  A new grad would find it extremely difficult to pick up a slip and fall and make anything of it.

I'm still waiting to read some good news. One day....