Jill Backer, Esq.
In this brief Q&A, Brooklyn Law School’s associate director of career services, offers some obvious and NOT-so-obvious job-finding suggestions in the roughest job market in a half-century:
Q. What do you see for the legal job market when the economy recovers?
A:I think the legal job market will bounce back, but I doubt it will [...]
Former criminal defense and in-house lawyer Taisha Rucker used to wonder what else she could do with her law degree. Now 13 years later, she’s answered the question, and is working on a book to help law students, new grads, and burned-out lawyers who are just beginning to ask. As part of Rucker’s research, she [...]
Nearly 10 million people are collecting unemployment benefits, up from 2 ½ million two years ago. How many are lawyers? It all depends on what blogs you read. But SOME of those thousands of out-of-work lawyers and new grads should be using this downtime to re-assess their practice … even their career in law. To [...]
FOR THE WEEK OF August 10
“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 [...]
Sunday’s New York Times had a terrific article on what is – and is not – appropriate to say when someone close to you becomes a member of the newly unemployed (“Navigating a Delicate Subject: The Layoff of a Friend”). Reporter Alina Tugen writes, “First, hold off on the platitudes. (If) someone has lost their [...]
So far this year, more than 3,000 lawyers and staff find themselves with some unexpected time on their hands, and that doesn’t count all the new grads and 3L’s whose summer gig has vanished in these troubled times. So how do you go from fired to fired-up? It’s easy. Do some good in the world. [...]
This month marks the longest recession since the 1930s , and the worst legal job market in decades. It’s scary out there, but Sheila Nielsen, a Chicago law career consultant and former federal prosecutor, has some suggestions for the newly unemployed. Nielsen spoke at a recent Chicago Bar Association event, and we present a few [...]
Professional women typically make up 30% of the class at top MBA programs, and 40% in part-time programs. But it’s a different story when it comes to executive MBA programs.
EMBA programs usually require a nearly two-year commitment of two long weekends on campus. For these programs, women make up less than 20%, and as low [...]
By Sheila Nielsen, JD/MSW
What are the two words you don’t want to hear in the worst economy since the 1930s?
“You’re fired.”
Let’s face it, though: More than at any time in recent memory, that’s the reality for associates in practice groups without enough work, for associates and partners whose contract position is not [...]
The National Law Journal reports that the legal sector continues to bleed jobs. 2,200 jobs in August, 1,600 in September, and 1,100 vanished in October. So far, the profession is down by nearly 16,000 jobs compared to a year ago. But what about lawyers who remain employed, but who would rather do SOMETHING else?
Law [...]