Featured Survey Results: Got Work? (Part Deux)
Last year, we asked you whether work was busy at your firms, and found that patent attorneys were particularly busy nationwide, while associates in real estate and structured finance were pretty slow in many markets. In last week's ATL / Lateral Link survey, we revisited the topic, and asked which practice areas are hottest (or nottest) at your firm. We received about 550 responses.
Not surprisingly, real estate and structured finance remain slow, but the malaise appears to be spreading to other transactional practices as well. Nationally, sixteen percent of respondents said real estate was the slowest practice at their firm. Corporate and structured finance were declared the slowest practice groups by twelve percent each. Capital markets and M&A were next, with approximately eight and one-half percent each. (While law firms may be slowing, in-house positions in these practices abound.)
While deals are slowing down, disputes are speeding up. About seventeen percent of respondents said that commercial litigation was the busiest practice area in their firm, while another eleven percent said patent litigation was hottest. Bankruptcy was declared the busiest group by fourteen percent of respondents. Corporate, while slow at many firms, was still going strong according to five percent of respondents.
Check out some market by market results after the jump.
While the national trends hold true in most markets, there were a few differences from region to region (bearing in mind that we still have a pretty small sample size in some markets):
• Commercial litigation, bankruptcy, and patent litigation were the hottest practices in Atlanta, with corporate, real estate, capital markets, antitrust and banking work looking pretty grim.
• Patent litigation is booming in the Bay Area, with almost two fifths of respondents citing it as their firms' hottest practice. Real estate and structured finance, not so much.
• In Boston, patent prosecution and litigation remain popular, while commercial litigation, M&A, and real estate are still sluggish.
• Almost a third of respondents in Chicago cited bankruptcy as the busiest practice at their firm, while commercial litigation, corporate, real estate, and structured finance remain slow.
• In LA, most respondents said commercial litigation, patent litigation, or labor & employment work was busiest at their firms, while real estate and finance were slow.
• Both bankruptcy and commercial litigation are heating up in several New York firms, with over a fifth of respondents citing each as the hottest practice area at their firms. Structured finance, however, is taking a beating, followed by real estate, corporate, capital markets, and M&A.
• In Texas, roughly a quarter of respondents said commercial litigation was the busiest practice, followed by patent litigation, energy and tax. A fifth of respondents, however, declared commercial litigation the slowest practice, followed by M&A and corporate work. So, Texas litigators, please share the love -- and sue one another.
• Patent and commercial litigation practices were declared busy in Washington, DC, with real estate and capital markets groups a bit slow. Like commercial litigation in Texas, antitrust practices in DC ran both hot and cold in the responses.
Also, a quick update on clerkship bonuses and maternity leave. The clerkship bonus table (posted here, and mirrored here) has been updated again to reflect firmwide $50K bonuses at Arnold & Porter and Kaye Scholer, and the maternity leave table (posted here, and mirrored here) has been updated to reflect Proskauer's upgrade to 18 weeks. Kudos to all three firms!
Please keep those e-mail tips coming.
(11) Comments
Texas litigators would love to sue one another. The problem is the special kind of tort reform W instituted here prior to going national (destroyed the Med Mal and Toxic Tort bars) has forced more lawyers to chase fewer cases. this has lead to lower billing rates. To compound the problem the Texas Supreme Court has been purchased by the Insurnace Industry and the last time a plaintiff won it was an insurance company suing one of its customers for failure to pay premiums.
May Litigation in Texas Rest in Peace.
My friend in i-banking has confirmed that transactions (blue chip, not bottom tier) are picking up again and they are getting way more busy.
the recession is over now that bond-insurers are back on sure-enough footing.
get ready to bill like gang-busters.
Lol@12:39. The recession/depression is just beginning my friend. The party is over!
This whole "slowness" thing has (with but few exceptions) been blown way out of proportion. Yes, things began slowing down in August 08', but 08' was my biggest year up to that point (out of 4 years). I still wound up billing 2000 in 08' (after two 2200+ years).
If I bill the same for the next ten months that I have for Jan and Feb, I'll hit 2000 no problem (though that's about it).
Even if things don't improve, or get far worse, any strong bankruptcy practice group should be calling upon other groups in the firm for assistance (including corp, real estate, finance, etc.).
HELL YEAH I DO. I'M IN LIT, AND SWAMPED. I'M HAVING TO DO THE POLITE PUSH BACK THING WITH PARTNERS IT SEEMS LIKE EVERY DAY. I NEED TO START DELEGATING WORK TO FIRST AND SECOND YEARS, BUT I'M WORKING ON CASES WITH STINGY CLIENTS; OUR AGREEMENTS WITH THEM MANDATE US CLEARING IT WITH THEM BEFORE ADDING ANYBODY TO THE ROSTER.
THANK GOODNESS THOUGH. I CAN'T IMAGINE THE ALTERNATIVE. IF I DIDN'T HAVE ENOUGH WORK, WITH THE CURRENT ECONOMIC DOWNTURN, I'D CRAP MYSELF EVERYTIME MY KEY CARD DIDN'T WORK.
HELL YEAH I DO. I'M IN LIT, AND SWAMPED. I'M HAVING TO DO THE POLITE PUSH BACK THING WITH PARTNERS IT SEEMS LIKE EVERY DAY. I NEED TO START DELEGATING WORK TO FIRST AND SECOND YEARS, BUT I'M WORKING ON CASES WITH STINGY CLIENTS; OUR AGREEMENTS WITH THEM MANDATE US CLEARING IT WITH THEM BEFORE ADDING ANYBODY TO THE ROSTER.
THANK GOODNESS THOUGH. I CAN'T IMAGINE THE ALTERNATIVE. IF I DIDN'T HAVE ENOUGH WORK, WITH THE CURRENT ECONOMIC DOWNTURN, I'D CRAP MYSELF EVERYTIME MY KEY CARD DIDN'T WORK.
HELL YEAH I DO. I'M IN LIT, AND SWAMPED. I'M HAVING TO DO THE POLITE PUSH BACK THING WITH PARTNERS IT SEEMS LIKE EVERY DAY. I NEED TO START DELEGATING WORK TO FIRST AND SECOND YEARS, BUT I'M WORKING ON CASES WITH STINGY CLIENTS; OUR AGREEMENTS WITH THEM MANDATE US CLEARING IT WITH THEM BEFORE ADDING ANYBODY TO THE ROSTER.
THANK GOODNESS THOUGH. I CAN'T IMAGINE THE ALTERNATIVE. IF I DIDN'T HAVE ENOUGH WORK, WITH THE CURRENT ECONOMIC DOWNTURN, I'D CRAP MYSELF EVERYTIME MY KEY CARD DIDN'T WORK.
Chi Real Estate Assoc (1:39) says, "This whole "slowness" thing has (with but few exceptions) been blown way out of proportion. Yes, things began slowing down in August 08', but 08' was my biggest year up to that point (out of 4 years). I still wound up billing 2000 in 08' (after two 2200+ years)."
So tell us, how goes the practice of law in the future, McFly?
The caps are annoying...almost as much as posting it three times...but I liked the comments about crapping yourself when your key card doesn't work. Or your password...! We had a partner that got in a squabble with other partners at a partners' meeting and then he went home to work via Citrix and somehow because he'd changed his password on the work system but hadn't logged off and back onto to Citrix, his password didn't work and it kept him out of the system and he ASSUMED he'd been locked out intentionally and threw a major temper tantrum. Aah, fun! He was also the funnest partner to get drunk with after partner meetings because after a few too many, he'd spill the beans on everything confidential. He's no longer at the firm...go figure?!?
Ok, I said this in the PH posts, I think it's worth mentioning again in case anyone knows anything else. I work in a west coast office of PH. To say that it's slow doesn't do it justice. We are basically begging other offices for work, and guess what?! they're hoarding it. The more senior associates in my office tend to keep the work for themselves. My partner keeps telling us it will pick up, and yet nothing. I was on a project with associates from other offices lately and they tell me they have all been slow. I'm not sure how we ended up having our "record" year in 2007--likely because they began billing us all out at a higher rate as early as September 07.