Archive for December, 2009

The Wall Street Journal reports this week that even though the US labor market is showing signs of improvement, conditions for older workers continue to deteriorate.

As of last month, the number of unemployed workers ages 55 to 64 has nearly tripled since the recession began. And while it is difficult to quantify just how many Americans are retiring now amid weak job prospects, recent work by two Wellesley College economists suggests the effect is large. In a new working paper, they estimate nearly 400,000 employees (no telling how many Boomer lawyers) will become “reluctant retirees” as a result of the weak labor market.

Lawyer/counselor Michael Long, author of Lawyers at Midlife: Laying the Groundwork for the Road Ahead (2008), says a quarter-million lawyers are expected to start retiring in 2011. And whether they’re pushed or retire on their own, the loss of a revenue stream won’t be the only turning point in their legal career. Says Long, “Too many lawyers approaching retirement focus on financial and health-related issues, and they fail to anticipate feelings of loss, discomfort, and disorientation. In fact, there are at least five other endings and losses that merit close attention: Loss of lawyer identity, loss of intellectual stimulation, loss of feeling useful and valued, and loss of structure and purpose.”

When it comes to a satisfying retirement, Long says, “there is no one-size-fits-all formula. Reluctant or not, each lawyer will approach retirement with individual preferences, interests, values, experiences, strengths, challenges, hopes, dreams and concerns. And together with a life partner, they have to shape a life in retirement that works for them.”

2009 marks the worst year for lawyer headcount in 30 years. At the top 250 firms alone, the number of downsized attorneys rose by nearly 5,300 … even more if you calculate all the stealth firings and downsizing at smaller firms. But you already know the bad news. What isn’t generally known, is that a special COBRA health care subsidy – one that pays 65% of one’s health insurance premiums for nine months – is beginning to expire this month for anyone downsized after March 1st. Unless Congress acts by the end of the year to extend the subsidy, jobless lawyers and thousands of others, must pay full premiums instead of just 35%. If you are among those who has been laid off, don’t drop COBRA … even if you have to pay full premiums for awhile. Phil Lebherz, executive director of the Foundation for Health Coverage Education, says “Dropping COBRA is the worst thing you can do. Once you miss a payment for a month, you’re dropped from the plan and can’t rejoin it.”