Los Angeles District Attorney: New Deputies Start in June

Like big law firms, the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office has instructed those to whom it had just extended offers a week or two ago that they will be starting in June. This is starting to sound as if the D.A.'s Office may not in fact be able to follow through with hiring these individuals; they seem to be playing for time to get funds to honor the offers.

At least this is not Sacramento, where not only have recently hired deputies been laid off, but so have those hired a year before them. In a mirror image of Los Angeles, Sacramento's deputies have been told their positions will disappear in June.

Solo Practice: Business License

Today, the Stud took the first real step toward starting his own practice: filing for a business license with the City of Los Angeles. In the State of California, the only license required to open a law practice is one's bar license. However, the City of Los Angeles requires that entities that do business in the City, including the practice of law, obtain a business license.

The Stud went to one of the offices of the City of Los Angeles Office of Finance. For those similarly interested in starting up, please see the FAQ provided by the Office of Finance. To obtain your own license in person, visit the Office of Finance at one of eight locations.

The Stud felt an queasy excitement in his stomach as he stared at the piece of paper which declares him open for business as a solo practitioner. It's a huge step!

How Bad Is It?

Above the Law reports that O'Melveny & Myers LLP has cut 90 attorneys and 110 staff across the firm. This follows on last month's news that Latham & Watkins LLP cut 190 attorneys and 250 staff.

Now, the Stud has heard a rumor that the Santa Clara Law School career services office has begun encouraging the Class of 2008 to look for jobs consistent with their undergraduate degrees. Further, the week after Valentine's Day, the office of career services at Loyola Law School of Los Angeles held a panel on starting a solo practice.

That's how bad this economy is.

Think Your Job Hunt Is Tough?

In New York, one person was so fed up that he posted up this satirical post on Craigslist:

Fast-paced 20-attorney law firm looking for an eager associate to join our growing practice. We understand that you may be a newly-admitted attorney looking for their first job. We also know that the economy is harsh right now. However, we are willing to give you a chance. Here are the details of this spectacular opportunity:

* Your salary will be $30,000 per year. We understand that this may be on the low end(since you probably are six figures in debt), but we will be able to give you unlimited opportunities for experience and you'll be making six-figures soon enough. On the other hand, we will bill our clients $300 for every hour of your work; at least you will know your work is valued by us in several ways.
* There is no health insurance, but we have an on-site 2nd year medical student who will abide by the upmost professional standards take care of any illnesses or injuries that occur, both on-site and off-site.
* You will be expected to work 12 hour days, six (6) days of week. You will be afforded 1 week of vacation time, and three (3) sick days. Your vacation time is limited to the months of January and February, as we will need you to be in the office while the partners are taking their time off in the summer. The good news is that you will earn vacation and sick pay as soon as you start. The only holidays that the Firm observes are Christmas and Thanksgiving, but you must work a half-day, as we are a busy and important firm who adheres to our clients' needs.
* Your bonus, if earned (by billing 2100 hours per year), will consist of a one-year membership to a "food-of-the-mouth" club of your choice. In 2008, every associate took advantage of this valuable program and has benefited greatly for their hard work and dedication.

Please email resume, cover letter, salary history, law school and college transcripts to the address above. We will also need to you take a drug test, done at YOUR expense. We also charge a $50 processing fee for your employment application, payable later. All resumes and credentials will be held in strictest confidence.

• Compensation: $30,000/year, plus GREAT BENEFITS
• OK for recruiters to contact this job poster.
• Please, no phone calls about this job!
• Please do not contact job poster about other services, products or commercial interests.

It wouldn't be so funny if it weren't so realistic!

(Hat-tip: Krista)

Update: (2009.01.15.16:00 PST) Above the Law has a followup, including confirmation that the job posting is, in fact, a joke. The original author has posed his own followup:

I have received MANY applications regarding the $30k per year associate attorney position. I thought it would be clear that it is a fake. Even if it wasn't fake, who in their right mind would apply to such a position that retains a second year med student in lieu of health insurance? Anyway, below are some of the responses. Of course, I cannot reply to the numerous emails asking if this was a serious job posting, as my name would show up. Please note that anyone who sent a resume, cover letter, or any other credential had their email deleted in order to protect their privacy

As the author said to Above the Law: "Applicants need to have faith in themselves. Anyone who went to law school is better than this [fictitious] job."

Doc Review

In the ABA Journal, an article about the life of the contract attorney (doc review):

I make $35 an hour for the first 40 hours and $52.50 for each hour thereafter. Averaging 60 hours per week, I make a pretty good living for reading e-mail. A contract attorney working those hours can earn $100,000 a year. But there are no new skills acquired and no career advancement. Still, small firms in the New York area offer starting salaries below $50,000. State clerkships pay in the lows 40s. So this is the only way for many attorneys to survive financially.

Contract positions often last less than a month. You register with staffing agencies; recruiters then place you in projects at major firms, accepting a generous portion of your check in exchange. The buzz around reviews is that a firm bills out an attorney at $180 an hour and pays the temp agency $60 per; the agency, in turn, pays the attorney $40. Ranking somewhere below paralegals and above the cleaning crew, thousands of contract attorneys are making ends meet in this subsection of the legal industry.

Today, like always, I read e-mails from the client’s computer network, then code each according to its relevance. Often the vast majority are in no way responsive to the discovery request. Substantive reviews or analyses of documents are discouraged—if not banned outright. The contract attorney’s role is clear: Review and “bucket” documents, bill the requisite number of hours, and otherwise fly under the radar.

Sobering.

Employment Outlook

Many people who recently passed bar exams, as well as many current third year law students, are wondering about their employment prospects. Here are a couple of interesting articles.

First, John Bringardner writes that the jobs are out there ... overseas:

Major American law firms have long had a presence abroad, staffed by a combination of local counsel and lawyers from the home office. But as the economic downturn continues to cause upheaval in corporate America and the law firms that serve it, many firms are relying on their international outposts to keep profits up — and a growing number of lawyers are starting to look overseas for work. Not long ago, the City of London was New York’s primary competitor for financial talent, and Britain was often one of the first choices for lawyers deciding to head abroad.

But with Wall Street in tatters and London struggling as the credit crisis plays out, lawyers and analysts say that the most promising places for legal careers are such far-flung locales as Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Hong Kong. Even though Dubai’s booming economy has cooled sharply recently, lawyers say demand for their services remains strong there, and other overseas markets are still beckoning lawyers despite the global impact of the credit crisis — at least for now.

When work was plentiful at home, it was often a tough sell to get lawyers to move halfway around the world. But since the financial unraveling in September, that’s all changed. In the last two months, recruiters in Hong Kong and Dubai say they’ve seen a record number of New York résumés from candidates looking for law-firm or in-house legal work overseas.

Over the past decade, major corporate law firms have made international expansion a top priority, and some have become truly global businesses.

In the past decade, top firms like Jones Day, based in Cleveland, went from 6 foreign offices to 18. Weil, Gotshal & Manges, based in New York, went from 3 to 9, and Latham & Watkins, based in Los Angeles, from 5 to 14.

More than ever, then, being bilingual can be a real plus.

Meanwhile, BCG Attorney Search analyzes growth markets. Folks in Southern California should remain optimistic:

In addition, we have seen a significant rise in the number of highly qualified attorneys looking to relocate to California. Thus, while the Los Angeles market remains steady overall, it is definitely a "buyer's market" with the "buyer" being the law firms. Our contacts within the firms tell us they are getting tremendous responses to the openings they post and therefore are tightening up their hiring criteria more than ever. In this market, it is helpful to have strong ties to California, admission to the California Bar (or plans to sit for the exam in the very near future), or an area of specialty in which there is still high demand but low supply.

Further, those interested in Intellectual Property work, especially in Orange County, need fear less:

Intellectual property remains a healthy practice area in this market. Many firms are looking for attorneys with both IP litigation and patent prosecution experience. Patent prosecution specifically, remains one of the hot areas of law in Orange County. Firms are seeking attorneys with electrical engineering, computer science, and physics backgrounds mainly. There are also a few openings for attorneys with biotech science backgrounds, as well as mechanical engineering backgrounds.

Since hiring has slowed due to the economy, more firms are seeking candidates that are already members of the California Bar and USPTO, even though this wasn't a strict requirement in previous recent hiring periods. Furthermore, candidates with advanced degrees will definitely have an upper hand in this competitive market. Most firms are seeking attorneys in the 2-5 year range for these positions, but more junior level attorneys will also probably be considered. Orange County also has openings for patent agent candidates as well. As always, partners with a book of business are highly desired.

Hopefully these articles have helped. Good luck out there!

Biting Billables

Above the Law reports that O'Melveny & Myers is cutting staff in both the New York and Los Angeles offices. In the Los Angeles office:

Five associates are gone, a number of staffers have been let go, and there are rumors about more to come. Performance related or not, "job security" is surely a thing of the past.

The premise for the terminations apparently has to do with "performance". The tipsters seem to indicate that this means that people simply having been billing enough.

Many law students take it for granted that billable hours are a standard to surpass, but that first year associates are not required to meet those numbers. This may still be true, but certainly with these sorts of dismissals, especially during a time when most first year associates would be watching their backs and making sure they do not provide large firms with excuses for dismissal, one wonders whether the allegedly inadequate numbers are much higher than usual, or the O'Melveny Class of '07 simply wasn't up to scratch, or some combination thereof.