Paralegals & Legal Secretaries

Paralegal Employment Watch: It's a Bad Time to Be Layed Off at BigLaw

By ParalegalGateway.com

Though more subtle than mass layoffs in the financial and manufacturing industries, the layoff ax hit some attorneys this year at law firms in South Florida as members of support staffs such as paralegals and legal assistants lost their jobs in greater numbers. The cutbacks, analysts warn, are not likely to abate in the new year.

Anyone who thinks law firm layoffs are over should think again, said Bill Brennan, a principal with legal consulting firm Altman Weil. Some law firms have only delayed the inevitable by holding off cuts until the new year. It may seem more charitable, but it ultimately doesn?t help the people on their way out, he said.

?There actually may be a negative impact on the job-seekers who will lose their positions in the first quarter of 2009 because any jobs that may have been available at the end of 2008 will have been taken,? he said. ?The unfortunate few lawyers who may get pink slips in the first quarter of 2009 will probably find it very difficult to find new employment. It?s a pretty sad situation.?

In South Florida, Ruden McClosky dismissed 15 secretaries and one real estate associate at several offices including Fort Lauderdale. Most of the cuts were made in October.

Cesar Alvarez, chief executive officer of Greenberg Traurig, ducked the question of whether the firm?s South Florida offices have fired staff members, but sources speaking on condition of anonymity said the firm has made staff cuts in its Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach offices in recent months.

?With more than 4,000 lawyers and staff worldwide, we regularly adjust work force based on a number of business factors, including client needs and demand in various practice areas and cities, and we continue to do so now,? Alvarez said in a Dec. 17 statement. ?We are all going through an extraordinarily challenging time in our economy which impacts just about every business, including law firms.?

When pressed for details, Alvarez said, ?There are always changes in employee numbers throughout the year, every year.?

He said the firm?s lawyer head count grew this year. On the NLJ 250, an annual survey of the nation?s 250 largest law firms conducted by the National Law Journal, the firm?s attorney roster grew from 1,766 in 2007 to 1,840 this year.

David Lane, the Fort Lauderdale-based executive director of Ruden McClosky, said the firm planned to realign attorney-staff ratio to more closely reflect the industry standard of three attorneys to one secretary, which resulted in secretarial job losses. But he said the economic downturn caused the firm to pull the trigger now on the layoffs.

?It was more in accordance with a long-term plan,? he said. ?The economy spurred us to do it. Our standard is two attorneys per secretary and three or more paralegals per secretary. We were generally three attorneys to two secretaries overall. Paralegals remained the same.?

White & Case laid off 70 associates and 90 staffers firmwide in November. Eight associates and seven staff members were in the firm?s Miami office.

Holland & Knight confirmed it cut 70 staff members in May.

Akerman Senterfitt also reportedly laid off five staff members and three attorneys, although the firm refused to confirm it.

As laid-off attorneys and staff seek new jobs, they?re facing the usual year-end hiring hiatus as law firm leaders rush to complete performance evaluations, make compensation decisions in a harsh economic environment and finish bill collection efforts.

But this time around, the year-end slowdown started earlier than normal, said legal headhunter Gina Torres of Personnel Management Solutions in Fort Lauderdale, who focuses on attorney and staff searches.

?Typically this time of year, we are quiet. But this is the first time it?s ever been like this ? very quiet, almost eerily quiet,? she said. ?I think everyone?s taking the position, ?Let?s see what happens for the first of the year.? It?s going to be a wait-and-see approach.?

Lisa Vessels, president of the Florida Alliance of Paralegal Associations and the South Florida Paralegal Association, said that she?s noticed a drop in the number of job ads forwarded by legal headhunters for distribution to members in recent months.

?We noticed it had fallen off quite a bit, but we were getting two or three a month,? she said. ?In September, we received one and five in August. It was steadily falling off from August. I would say the average before that was at least half a dozen or more a month.?

Paralegals are likely to have an easier time finding replacement work than legal secretaries because paralegals bill for their time and are a quantifiable revenue source for law firms, she said.

Even when newly unemployed job seekers land interviews, candidates say the buyers? market has resulted in offers that are as much as $20,000 less than what they?re accustomed to, and many firms that are hiring are small- and mid-sized firms with lower pay scales.

?I?ve got a couple of job offers now. They?re $20,000 less than what I was making at Greenberg,? said a former Greenberg Traurig staff member who left the firm in June when it looked like layoffs were imminent.

?With White & Case laying people off, there are people who are like me who have experienced, solid work histories looking,? said the former staffer, who would speak only on condition of anonymity. ?It makes it tougher for someone like me to find a job.?

Even firms that pursued robust hiring efforts in 2008 are hitting the brakes for 2009.

Charles Rosenberg, managing shareholder of Carlton Fields? Miami office, said the firm hired 89 staff members and 26 attorneys in 2008. ?For 2009, we expect to grow possibly at a slower rate,? he said. (Source>>>)

Full post as published by ParalegalGateway Blawg on February 02, 2009 (boomark / email).