Layoffs, Media and Journalism, New York Times

Thomas Friedman's Semi-Coherent Thoughts on Lawyer Layoffs

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Thomas Friedman of the New York Times has a comically predictable pattern for his columns. He usually starts with a little anecdote from his humdrum life and then launches into a ground-shaking, earth-shattering revelation about global politics.
Sometimes we wonder if Friedman has created a custom Madlib for crafting his columns. This week, he opines on our poor education system being the reason for the Great Recession. In a spot in the column that called for a ‘noun for lawyers’, he decided to throw in “untouchables.”
No, he’s not talking about contract attorneys. See Friedman’s explanation for lawyer layoffs after the jump.


From the New York Times (via WSJ Law Blog):

A Washington lawyer friend recently told me about layoffs at his firm. I asked him who was getting axed. He said it was interesting: lawyers who were used to just showing up and having work handed to them were the first to go because with the bursting of the credit bubble, that flow of work just isn’t there. But those who have the ability to imagine new services, new opportunities and new ways to recruit work were being retained. They are the new untouchables.

Do you hear that, incoming first years? If you show up and expect work to be handed to you, you’re going to be laid off.
Friedman’s word choice is confusing to us. When we think “untouchables,” we think of the Hindu caste system. We prefer to call successful Biglaw attorneys the legal Brahmin.
But Friedman persists with the “untouchable” language. Here’s his advice for success:

Those who are waiting for this recession to end so someone can again hand them work could have a long wait. Those with the imagination to make themselves untouchables — to invent smarter ways to do old jobs, energy-saving ways to provide new services, new ways to attract old customers or new ways to combine existing technologies — will thrive.

Everyone needs to be a rainmaker!

Just being an average accountant, lawyer, contractor or assembly-line worker is not the ticket it used to be. As Daniel Pink, the author of “A Whole New Mind,” puts it: In a world in which more and more average work can be done by a computer, robot or talented foreigner faster, cheaper “and just as well,” vanilla doesn’t cut it anymore. It’s all about what chocolate sauce, whipped cream and cherry you can put on top.”

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You’ve been warned. Make sure to put chocolate sauce, whipped cream, and a cherry on top of your next promissory estoppel note.
The New Untouchables [New York Times]
Do Law Firm Associates Fear Rainmaking? [WSJ Law Blog]

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