They Said … What?
FOR THE WEEK BEGINNING MAY 10:
“It’s still a tough time, and the recession has hit the legal fields very hard. But we have hit bottom,” Dean Matthew Diller, Benjamin Cardozo School of Law (quoted in New York Law Journal)
“The job market is the tightest in recent memory, but the idea that there are no jobs out there for graduates … well, that’s just wrong.” — Dean Michael Simons, St. John’s University School of Law (quoted in New York Law Journal)
“As we reboot the great American jobs machine, it’s time to shelve outdated assumptions and accept that a portfolio of multiple assignments (i.e., contract work) is what growing legions of companies and executives want. This new relationship between talent and firms isn’t a failure to be stigmatized, but the latest sign of our economy’s endless capacity for renewal and innovation.” — Jody Greenstone Miller, CEO of the Business Talent Group, and former special assistant to President Bill Clinton.
“How good are law schools at responding to the legal marketplace? We are absolutely wretched. Just as law firms this year have shed lawyers like a dog sheds hair in summer, law schools continue to admit the same – or more – students into their program.” – Law Prof. Rick Bales, University of Northern Kentucky School of Law (Wall Street Journal)
“The business model of US law schools doesn’t quite make sense to me. (They) bring you in from college, educate you, and encumber you with a six-figure indebtedness at a tender age. (So in the middle of a recession), we are pouring tens of thousands of young people into a market that I suspect is not going to be able to absorb them at them at the levels of remuneration that would have justified taking on that debt.” – Peter Kalis, chairman of the 1,800-lawyer firm K&L Gates (Wall Street Journal)
“The unintended consequence of the recession is that law schools may be rediscovering the secret sauce of professional development.” - Law Professor William Henderson, Indiana University/Maurer School of Law (National Law Journal)
“In the old days, (law firms) didn’t get to pick and choose, but now they are (only) holding on to the strongest performers. They’re primarily focused on productivity.” – Hildebrandt consultant Lisa Smith, on the factors that determine which associates are more likely to be caught up in The Great Realignment. (American Lawyer)
“The fact is, the qualitative gene pool improves in the process of doing these layoffs.” – Unnamed chairman of a Northeast Biglaw firm. (American Lawyer)
“(We’re not) in recovery. It’s a slowing recession. We’re seeing fewer people employed, and those who are employed aren’t seeing their earnings power increased. It’s tough to see where a recovery can come from.” – Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington DC (Wall Street Journal)
“It’s a measure of just how terrible the economy has become that a loss of more than a half-million jobs in just one month can be widely seen as a good sign. The house is still burning down, but not quite as fast.” – Bob Herbert, columnist (New York Times)
“Everything kind of sucks.” – a 3L at Seton Hall University School of Law (National Law Journal)
“I have a theory that we may have several years where the so-called ‘first-year class’ will have people with varying graduation dates.” — Keith Wetmore, chairman, Morrison & Foerster, on plans by many top firms to defer recruit hiring until January, 2011. (National Law Journal)