Associates Need Not Apply: Job Market is Slow, Except for IP

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Associates Need Not Apply: Job Market is Slow, Except for IP

Posted Apr 10, 2008, 05:02 pm CDT
By Martha Neil

Unless you're an intellectual property associate or a partner with a book of business in any practice area, now is probably not a good time to look for a lateral job at another law firm or corporate legal department.

Even for associates seeking bankruptcy and litigation positions, the market is slower than many would have expected given the increasing amount of work in these fields following the mortgage meltdown. And, for those in downsizing practice areas such as real estate, the situation is even worse, according to the Wall Street Journal Law Blog. Although it isn't a good time to be looking for work, a growing number of real estate associates may be forced to do so by layoffs, it suggests.

“We’ve been really stunned,” says recruiter Cynthia Sitcov, attributing the slowdown to uncertainty about the future and wondering if the current situation signals a fundamental change in the legal market. "People do not want to pick up and move on the associate level right now," she advises.

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Posted by LWood - 4 months, 3 weeks, 4 days, 7 hours, 43 minutes ago

Wasn’t there an article discussing growth in the “hot” area of bankruptcy last week? Which is it? Stunningly slow or hopping? One week it’s hot and one week it’s not.
Posted by Anonymous - 4 months, 3 weeks, 4 days, 5 hours, 59 minutes ago

What do you expect from the ABA? ABA I hate to break it to you, but most young lawyers (not the biglaw types you always talk so much about) are living under depression era conditions.
Posted by D.Rew - 4 months, 3 weeks, 4 days, 4 hours, 58 minutes ago

Tell me about it. I am a 4th year associate whose firm is going out of business and I have been looking for 4 months without success.
Posted by Worried 2L - 4 months, 3 weeks, 2 days, 4 hours, 18 minutes ago

Does anyone know how the firms are planning on handling this year’s summer associates in terms of offers for permanent employment? Particularly in Chicago?
Posted by IP associate - 4 months, 3 weeks, 1 day, 5 hours, 35 minutes ago

Unless what?

I’m a 3rd year associate, and I can say for certain that there aren’t that many jobs out there for us. Our work is mostly fixed fee, so we can’t make the big dollars because our hourly rates are pretty well fixed as is the total time in a day. That isn’t exactly the recipe for big money that big firms look for. They consider IP an ancillary charity practice and only put the minimum money into it to say that “yeah, we do that.”

So what IP practicioners did you guys consult about this one?
Posted by MgM - 4 months, 2 weeks, 18 hours, 11 minutes ago

I’m a 3L already concerned about the job market, as I, like many of my classmates, don’t have a job waiting for me yet. Three weeks ago, the ABA Journal published an article about the “hottest growth area” of bankruptcy. So which is it? Based upon IP associate’s comments, perhaps this article is off target as well.

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