Because Law Firms on the Precipice Keep Hiring

This follow-up piece on how Howrey’s lawyers are doing following the firm’s demise a year ago is reminder for all prospective hires, from partner to paralegal, to do their own due diligence on any prospective employer.  First-year associates along with everyone else at Howrey lost their jobs when the firm dissolved. Make sure you’re not jumping onto a sinking ship by gathering information about a firm’s performance.

 An interviewer probably won’t answer direct questions about firm finances, so be more circumspect: Is the firm staffing because of recent departures, or because of growth? Does the firm pay for lawyers’ bar dues or for their continuing legal education classes? What professional development activities are provided for paralegals and other staff? How does this contrast to five years ago? What facility upgrades are in the works? Prospective hires should also scour legal publications before their scheduled interview. Has the firm recently lost big-name partners or major clients? Ask about the fallout from these events.  Work in a discussion of the current economy and inquire how the firm is weathering bad times. And hope that if a firm is on the brink of dissolution, someone will be candid enough with you to tell you, at least on the sly, to look elsewhere.

“Oops, I Was Laid Off Again”

No one wants that line as her theme song, especially in depressing (er, invigorating!) times as these.  Firms continue to “right size.” The latest example? Planned cutbacks at Dewey & LeBoeuf, which is “aligning” its resources (i.e., trimming lawyers and staff).  Story here.

No matter how challenging the market, lawyers and staff alike should be proactive to make sure their heads aren’t on the chopping block. Are you making your billables? Are you marketing yourself, your practice, your firm? Are you networking internally and externally and displaying plenty of drive? Are you bringing in business? Doing none of the above? Then don’t be too, too surprised if your name is on a pink slip. Have you done all of these things and been laid off anyway? Then you should be that much better positioned to find a new job or to open a new business. Don’t just sit around and wait for layoffs to happen.

Law Firm Whodunit: The Clerk in the File Room with a ‘Send’ Button?

AmLawDaily’s report on an SEC filing gone astray (Skadden Accepts Responsibility for Errant Wynn Resorts SEC Filing) is a timely reminder that mistakes happen. We’ve all made them no matter how many protections or quality control measures we have in place. If you happen to work at a law firm, though, you might want to make sure that you’re not the fall guy. A “blame the paralegal” (or the secretary or the law clerk or anyone whose title is not ‘partner’) approach to embarrassing snafus might be workable so long as you’re not the paralegal or the clerk or anyone else standing around when an inadvertent error is uncovered. Sometimes courts, clients, whomever, are indeed appeased by a “pin it on the staff” response to a mistake. (It is just so hard to get good help, even during a recession.) Sometimes they aren’t. Personally, I try to own up to my errors. If I were going to take one for the team, though, at the very least I’d make sure my superiors were aware of my dedication. To prevent someone from falsely claiming that Lori did it, I’d try to make sure my work records were complete so that pinning the blame on me, if it were undeserved, would be unlikely to happen. Just a thought I had over lunch with Colonel Mustard in the conservatory.

How Lawyers Can Practice Sustainability

I am working on an article on lawyers, law firms, and sustainability and look forward to sharing it when it is finally published. Sustainability—basically, the idea that we should leave the world a better place than we found it and not continue to deplete our natural resources—is certainly a vital goal for the planet. The notion also poses all sorts of interesting legal issues (and work!) for lawyers. For instance, who is liable if a green building does not perform as promised? What happens if a retailer requires its suppliers to make their operations more sustainable and, in so doing, an operator experiences some sort of catastrophe? As in the world as a whole, sustainability crosses industries and requires collaboration; so, too, in law firms, sustainability matters tend not to be siloed in an environmental practice group. Okay, this graf is just a big teaser for my upcoming article, but I have a feeling I’ll be writing more pieces on this subject in the months to come. I can’t wait to report on progress in this area all the way around.