Associate Life Survey: Yikes
We received roughly 1,527 responses to last week's ATL / Lateral Link survey on whether you're busy, which is up from the roughly 1,350 responses we received in June.
Overall, things are looking slower than they did in December or June, with 32% of associates afraid that they won't make their hours this year, in contrast to 28% of associates in June and 18% in December. Worse yet, 3% of respondents said that they had already been laid off, an answer that wasn't available in the earlier surveys.
Meanwhile, the number of respondents who still think their firms actually need to hire more people has dropped precipitously, from 25% in June to only 15% today.
Is business slow? December 2007 vs. June 2008 vs. September 2008
| December 2007 | June 2008 | September 2008 | |
| Yes, I've been laid off. | n/a | n/a | 3% |
| Yes. I won't make my hours. | 18% | 28% | 32% |
| Yes, but I'll make my hours. | 15% | 12% | 16% |
| It's slow for others, but not me. | 16% | 14% | 11% |
| No. | 25% | 21% | 23% |
| No. We need more people. | 26% | 25% | 15% |
Find out what's hot and what's not, after the jump.
As we found last year and last quarter, real estate and structured finance attorneys are still very slow, with roughly 70% saying that they won't make their hours this year, and a fair number reporting that they have already been laid off. The sluggishness has also been worsening for corporate and securities work in general, with almost 50% of these attorneys saying they won't make their hours (up from 43% in June, and more than twice the number reported last December). Even tax attorneys are sliding, with roughly 36% afraid they won't make their hours, up from 22% in June.
On the bright side, however, bankruptcy is still going strong, with 47% of respondents in that field saying their firms should hire more people. Geek is also chic, with almost a third of patent associates calling for more bodies. And T&E is still attractive, with almost a third of trusts & estates associates saying their firms should hire more people.
Breakdown by Practice: Is Business Slow?
| Yes, I've been laid off. | Yes, I won't make my hours. | Yes, but I'll make my hours. | It's slow for others at the firm, but not me. | No, I'm doing fine. | No! We need to hire people! | |
| Bankruptcy | - | 4% | 4% | 16% | 31% | 47% |
| Corporate | 3% | 48% | 21% | 8% | 15% | 7% |
| Employee Benefits / Executive Comp | 4% | 29% | 4% | 20% | 24% | 20% |
| Energy | - | 24% | 29% | 8% | 20% | 20% |
| Investment Management | 5% | 10% | 30% | 25% | 25% | 5% |
| Labor & Employment | 2% | 24% | 8% | 12% | 38% | 18% |
| Litigation | 2% | 18% | 14% | 14% | 33% | 22% |
| M & A | 6% | 40% | 24% | 5% | 20% | 6% |
| Patent | 2% | 16% | 11% | 16% | 28% | 31% |
| Real Estate | 9% | 69% | 13% | 3% | 7% | 2% |
| Securities | - | 49% | 24% | 13% | 9% | 7% |
| Structured Finance | 6% | 69% | 9% | 9% | 8% | 2% |
| Tax | 4% | 36% | 23% | 9% | 18% | 13% |
| Trademark | - | 30% | - | 10% | 50% | 10% |
| Trusts & Estates | - | 24% | - | 16% | 31% | 31% |
The Charlotte market is still in particularly rough shape, with 47% of respondents there saying they won't make their hours, and 4% reporting layoffs. But now Houston, LA and Miami have broken the 40% mark as well (although some of Houston's slowdown may be Ike-related).
Dallas, however, remains robust, with only 14% of respondents afraid they won't make their hours, but almost 30% of respondents calling for more colleagues.
Breakdown by Market: Is Business Slow?
| Yes, I've been laid off. | Yes, I won't make my hours. | Yes, but I'll make my hours. | It's slow for others at the firm, but not me. | No, I'm doing fine. | No! We need to hire people! | |
| Atlanta | 2% | 30% | 20% | 19% | 20% | 12% |
| Bay Area | 3% | 29% | 18% | 14% | 29% | 10% |
| Boston | 2% | 27% | 23% | 15% | 23% | 12% |
| Charlotte | 4% | 47% | - | 20% | 14% | 17% |
| Chicago | 5% | 29% | 21% | 12% | 24% | 11% |
| Dallas | 6% | 14% | 14% | 10% | 31% | 29% |
| Denver | - | 25% | 17% | 17% | 34% | 9% |
| Houston | 4% | 44% | 14% | 10% | 10% | 20% |
| Los Angeles | 1% | 44% | 9% | 9% | 28% | 13% |
| Miami | - | 45% | 12% | - | 34% | 12% |
| New York | 4% | 36% | 15% | 11% | 23% | 15% |
| Philadelphia | - | 33% | 18% | 13% | 23% | 15% |
| San Diego | 3% | 30% | 27% | 9% | 24% | 9% |
| Seattle | 9% | - | 25% | - | 42% | 25% |
| Washington, D.C. | 1% | 24% | 17% | 13% | 29% | 20% |
The slowdown is affecting lawyers of all vintages.
Breakdown by Seniority: Is Business Slow?
| Yes, I've been laid off. | Yes, I won't make my hours. | Yes, but I'll make my hours. | It's slow for others at the firm, but not me. | No, I'm doing fine. | No! We need to hire people! | |
| Before 2000 | 3% | 41% | 12% | 12% | 18% | 16% |
| 2000 | 3% | 35% | 32% | 12% | 3% | 18% |
| 2001 | 11% | 34% | 13% | 9% | 23% | 13% |
| 2002 | 3% | 36% | 16% | 10% | 25% | 13% |
| 2003 | 3% | 27% | 16% | 12% | 29% | 17% |
| 2004 | 3% | 27% | 19% | 12% | 26% | 15% |
| 2005 | 4% | 31% | 16% | 13% | 19% | 20% |
| 2006 | 3% | 36% | 18% | 11% | 22% | 13% |
| 2007 | 2% | 32% | 15% | 12% | 27% | 15% |
| 2008 | 1% | 28% | 11% | 11% | 37% | 15% |
--
Justin Bernold is a Director at Lateral Link, the sponsor of this Associate Life Survey.
(31) Comments
firsty firsty
First.
TTThirds
awesome lolcat.
Dear 11% of Chicago attorneys who are hiring,
I demand the names and contact information of your hiring partners immediately.
Warm Regards,
Frustrated 2L
I'M RUNNING OUT OF PRETZELS ! !! !
Wow, Sea-Town is blazing hot right now.
My life as a CMBS/securitization troll
2005-6, billing 2400hrs = nice bonus
2006-7, billing 2250 = pretty easy work, semi-social life
2007-8, billing 1550hrs = no mo' job
2008-2009, collecting unemployment = priceless
7,
...and the 9% of associates who have been "laid off" are all from Heller.
Do you guys think that Schulte will be able to weather these tough times in the hedge fund industry. I am currently considering an offer but am very unsure of how they will do going forward. Any help/comments would be greatly appreciated.
Where are the firms that are hiring? Seems like everyone is cutting back and cutting summer classes. I mean DLA, to name just one, no offered (or equivalent) of 1/3 of its class. Everyone is reducing size. Please tell me what firms actually need MORE associates?
Where are the firms that are hiring? Seems like everyone is cutting back and cutting summer classes. I mean DLA, to name just one, no offered (or equivalent) 1/3 of its class. Everyone is reducing size. Please tell me what firms actually need MORE associates?
considering probably 5 people responded from seattle, I bet those numbers are skewed.
I've never read one of these... very interesting data. Any chance you could include the n's so we get a sense of the strength of some of these percentages?
I've never read one of these... very interesting data. Any chance you could include the n's so we get a sense of the strength of some of these percentages?
DC seems to be doing pretty well.
Justin, can you indicate the size of your samples in the individual tables? E.g. the 2000 graduates are voting differently. It would be interesting to know whether this is based on a sample size of 5 or 500.
The Charlotte market is brutal for UNC and the 5 Duke students that remain in-state. They won't be able to compete with local heavyweight Charlotte School of Law. Hiring partners in Charlotte prefer CSL students over Duke/UNC because of their superior preparation for the practice of law.
Hopefully the size of Seattle respondents was large enough to give an accurate picture of the market, but I would bet that most of the lay-offs are from Heller, which had about 80 attorneys in its Seattle office. I haven't heard of any other shops in Seattle doing any layoffs, stealth or otherwise.
18's a pretty funny guy.
18 - you must be joking. Is Charlotte School of Law even ABA-accredited?
What about the Magic Circle firms? How do you think they will weather the storm?
What about the Magic Circle firms? How do you think they will weather the storm?
21 - jump off a bridge.
The firms that will do the best in this economic climate are the ones that represent industries prepared to weather the storm... Big Tobacco and Big Porn. I went with the latter and absolutely love it, except the wife is slightly more skeptical when I say I have to work late.
Kash to gorgeousness!
Elie to gorgeness!!!
25, where do you work? are they hiring corp attys?
Looks to me like the most likely lay off victims are the mid levels (oh no). New joinees and second years look pretty safe. Is that true?
Where are all these firms in NY and DC that need more attorneys? Haven't seen many postings on job boards or lateral link or gotten as many recruiter calls as I used to, and I know many firms are being tight with lateral and summer hiring, so that surprises me a bit.
So what's the play if you're a 3L who has accepted the offer following SA gig but suspect a possible delayed start date or rescission?
Too late for clerk apps. Can't exactly preemptively apply to other firms. What about gov't apps? Will 3L grades really matter?
I feel like I should be preparing for the worst, but how exactly?!
2nd year here (well would have been a third year had the ax not fallen) ... got laid off, as did all the other 2nd years in my group.... I'm sure the new 2nd years will be next if things don't pick up.
Editors... why you asking for name of firms on the survey if you aren't going to disclose it to us ?