Careers
Legal Employment Down 12,000 Jobs in Last Year
Posted Dec 5, 2008 11:02 AM CST
By Molly McDonough
The number of people working in legal services has dropped by nearly 12,000 in the last year, the U.S. Department of Labor reported today.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics' seasonally adjusted numbers, which include nonlawyers, went from 1,175,200 in November 2007 to 1,163,500 this year.
In the last month, losses were reported at 2,200.
Lost jobs in the legal sector are part of record-breaking losses felt by industries almost across the board. Job losses totaled 533,000 for November, and the unemployment rate rose to 6.7 percent
Business Week reports that the economy is losing jobs at its fastest rate in three decades.
"How bad are these numbers? Worse than in the 1990-91 recession, whose worst month saw 306,000 lost jobs, or the 2001 recession, whose worst month was a loss of 325,000 jobs," Business Week notes.
"The U.S. economy lost 431,000 jobs in May 1980, which was the worst month of the back-to-back recessions of 1980-82. If it's any comfort, though, November's showing was better than the recession month of December 1974, when the economy lost a staggering 602,000 jobs."
- How B of A’s GC Got Fired: Leave Now, and Leave Your BlackBerry Behind
- Schools Ranked by 'Super Lawyers' Produced
- Law Firm Price Wars Break Out as Some Try ‘Loss Leader’ Bids for Work
- Five Questions for Law Firms Abandoning Lockstep Compensation
- Judge Jails 2 Attorneys for Contempt in 4 Days
- Reed Smith Will Ask Nonequity Partners to Pony Up Possibly 15% of Pay
- Court Deputy Ordered to Apologize or Face Jail After Taking Lawyer's Paperwork
- Skadden Jumps on the Bonus Bandwagon
- ABA Executive Director Resigns
- Nasty Attitude to Co-Worker, Naughty Word in E-Mail Cost 2 Their Jobs
Should Supreme Court Justices Be Able to Review News Accounts Before Publication?
Comments
N.
Dec 12, 2008 8:52 AM CST
Dear Law Skool,
Can I please have my money back, please?
Flag this comment
Law Skool
Dec 12, 2008 9:49 AM CST
Reply to N,
Yes the check is in the mail along with a hooked on phonics book. Merry Christmas.
Flag this comment
Stone
Dec 12, 2008 9:53 AM CST
I second the motion. I’ll even give you the degree back.
Flag this comment
Doneil
Dec 12, 2008 12:39 PM CST
You can’t honestly believe that lawyers should be immune from this recession. Everyone is affected. What I would really like to see are firms actually trying to be competitive. You know - like lowering their rates to something reasonable again - having a law office constructed from something other than polished brass and marble. Maybe this recession is just the kick in the head that we need.
Flag this comment
Doomed
Dec 12, 2008 2:35 PM CST
Since the auto makers and the banks got a bailout, why can’t recent law grads. I’m 2 years out of law school, working as legal secretary for crying out loud. There are no lawyering jobs out there. I can’t afford to go out on my own. I scared to take the risk with a young family. The govn’t should stop helping Big Corp. and help out the little people, folks like us young lawyers.
Flag this comment
Diana
Dec 12, 2008 4:52 PM CST
It is about time that someone has the courage to let it be known that lawyer jobs are hard to come by. Getting an attorney job right out of law school has been really hard since the early 1990s when I graduated. In some parts of the country, (like here in Chicago) unless a person “knows someone” or has some political pull or has graduated from the top schools with top grades they are lucky to be hired as a law clerk for low wage at a small firm.
The worst part is our beloved (?) law schools who continue to “fudge” numbers of alumni who are employed in the “legal field”. That high percentage of hiring rate that snows people to going to the law school, includes alumni who are law clerks, secretary/receptionist in a law firm, paralegals, law firm office manager, or other non-attorney jobs. All the law schools care about is selling their product—education. They are certainly not interested in truthfully informing potential students that after 3 years of hell in law school and passing the bar exam, that person not be able to get an attorney job.
Flag this comment
Doc.
Dec 12, 2008 4:54 PM CST
Maybe people should read these forums before going to law school.
Go to medical school people. You want a job, law school isn’t the answer.
Flag this comment
I agree with Doc
Dec 12, 2008 6:30 PM CST
the only people that are close to being recession-proof are people in the health field: dentistry, pharmacy, nursing, medicine, etc. lawyers are stupid. but honestly, many of us end up in law school b/c we couldn’t get in anywhere else and suck at math and science.
Flag this comment
Add a Comment
We welcome your comments, but please adhere to our comment policy.
Commenting has expired on this post.