Being a Thankful Lawyer, No Matter the Firm Size

Being a Thankful Lawyer, No Matter the Firm Size

The Attorney at Work blog this week reminds us to "bloom where we are planted."  Each firm practice setting -- solo, small firm, and big firm -- offers practitioners many opportunities to be thankful.

Blogger Merrilyn Astin Tarlton reminds us that:

In a Solo Practice

• You can dress and decorate how you please. No one is going to question your choice of socks or hair color (what purple streak?) or office accessory — even if it’s a Pomeranian.
• It’s a simple matter to change your mind and do things differently for a while.
• You don’t have to be a systems engineer to know what’s going on. It’s all happening within arm’s reach.
• A person can get a little peace and quiet around there.
• You don’t have to wait for other people to make up their minds about how much money you can take home.
• Firm name? A no-brainer.
• You can run like the wind and stop on a dime.

In a Small Firm

• You can say “Good morning” to every person in the office by simply walking to the coffee machine and back — and you even know their names!
• Firm management is rarely a mystery. Closed-door meetings are few and “transparency” is difficult to avoid.
• You know your colleagues’ practices, workloads, temperaments and networks. Cross-selling? It’s much easier to brag about someone else than to talk about yourself.
• You can try a thing or two without risking it all.
• If you’re lucky, your slow times are balanced out by your partner’s busy-busy ones.
• Your ideas and hard work can easily make a difference to the whole firm.
• You get credit when it’s due, but you don’t have to carry the load all alone, either.
• You may not have the deepest bench, but you always know who you can count on.

In a Big Firm

• You have other people who are paid to worry about technology, staffing, phone systems, insurance, emptying the trash, stocking the kitchen … you name it. Your job is to practice law.
• You show up everywhere prepackaged in the reputation of your firm’s good name.
• The financial ups and downs of your personal practice are easier to weather.
• There is security to be found in making decisions as a group.
• You get to learn about new cities and states (and maybe even countries) when you visit your firm’s multiple offices.
• You and your colleagues have star power! Just look at the next issue of The American Lawyer! It’s all about big firms.
• In the office after hours? You’re never alone because there’s always something going on.
• There’s never a problem finding enough people to pitch in, whether it’s to finish a deal, or for the bowling team, or for that Habitat for Humanity project.

What makes you thankful for your law practice setting?

Back to School: Practice-Ready Legal Curriculum

Over 340 Years of 

Private Practice Experience 

Among ASL's Faculty

It frustrated me to no end when highly-ranked Washington and Lee University School of Law -- to much fanfare -- announced in 2008 their practice-ready curriculum for 3Ls students.  The press release from the school's Dean said:

[We] are embarking on a dramatic revision of [the] law school curriculum, entirely reinventing the third year to make it a year of professional development through simulated and actual practice experiences.  

This is one of the boldest reforms in American legal education since Dean Christopher Columbus Langdell pioneered the new curriculum at Harvard Law School in the late 19th century.

What?  WTF?  Appalachian School of Law had created -- from its inception in the mid-1990s -- a practice-ready, experiential curriculum for all students (not just 3Ls) long before Washington and Lee announced its program!  But for us, the pedagogical approach was so embedded in our institutional genes, we never thought to elevate it to a nationwide selling point.  Silly us!

What sets ASL apart from nearly all law schools is this.  Its faculty members, when taken together, have over 340 years of  private practice experience.  For example. I practiced for 20 years in the areas of energy, civil litigation, ADR, and insurance law before I joined the academy.  I still sharpen the saw by providing pro bono mediation services to parties appearing in area courts.  Ironically, one of my mentors, at the school where I earned my LL.M., advised me that all that private practice experience would taint me in academia.

It seems most law school faculties prefer faculty members who possess a purely theoretical bent, as opposed to a practical bent.  Luckily, I found an academic home where my colleagues welcomed the expertise I had garnered in the conference rooms, courts, and law offices where lawyers meet to argue, brief, negotiate, and solve legal problems.  For more about our faculty, see here.

I posted earlier about the nationally recognized externship program of the Appalachian School of Law.  Few law schools have anything like it in scale or coverage.  For more information, see here.

Also, our curriculum emphasizes the development of the following professional skills:

• Legal writing and research throughout the curriculum, not just during the first year
• Advocacy in trial and appellate courts
• Advocacy in arbitration and mediation
• Negotiation 
• Client representation and counseling
• Corporate and contractual transactions
• Wills and trusts
• Family law practice
• Pre-trial practice
• Insurance claims 
• Mineral and natural resource management, and 
• Small business counseling and drafting.

I do not intend that list to be exclusive.  I know it's not.  For more information about our course offerings, see here.

As noted in an earlier posting, we have award-winning moot court, mock trial, and ADR competition teams. Our practice-ready curriculum supports those successes.  

It also makes our students ready to face the demands of legal practice straight out of school.  Thank goodness for that because so many graduates and lawyers practice in small or solo practices where mentoring does not exist or may fall short of the needs of some new lawyers. Our graduates hit the ground running.

And, if I had to put money on a legal team, I'd choose ASL over W&L.  In fact, I have. Several years ago, we whooped W&L in a negotiation competition.  ;-)  

Yes, that is a very broad smile on my face. I love an under-estimated, underdog. Sic 'em, Fido.   ;-)

For more information, see here.

Dec. 31, 2014 Update:  This blog posting, criticizing a Harvard Law Course designed for students who want to become law professors, clearly identifies the difference between the so-called elite schools and the access schools.  At elite schools, professors produce scholarship.  At access schools, professors teach practice skills because we can.  We also produce scholarship, but it does not take priority over teaching and assessment.   We focus on student learning!

25-Year Law Practice Employment Trends: Solo, Small Firm, BigLaw, or Someplace in Between?

I graduated from law school in 1982.  At that time,

• 7.6 percent of new law graduates became solo practitioners; 
• 40.3 percent entered small law practices (2-10 lawyers); 
• about 11 percent entered firms 51 to 100 lawyers in size;  
• only 15. 6 percent of new law grads entered large firms of 101 plus lawyers, and more women did that than men; and 
• NALP, the Association of Legal Career Professionals, did not keep a separate category for firms with more than 500 lawyers. See trend report here. 

According to an earlier trend report, in 1982, about 10 percent of new law grads entered business and industry.

About 23,000 students graduated from law school in 1982.

Fast forward to 2007, the year of record employment among lawyers, NALP reports that:

• 3 percent of new law grads became solo practitioners (a 4 percent drop);
• about 33 percent entered small law practices (2-10 lawyers) (a 13 percent drop); 
• about 6 percent entered firms 51 to 100 lawyers in size (a 5 percent drop); and
• a whopping 42.3 percent of new law grads entered large firms of 101 plus lawyers (a 26.7 percent increase).

According to yet another report available from NALP, in 2007, about 14 percent of new law grads entered business and industry (a 4 percent increase).

About 43,500 students graduated from law school in 2007, an increase of 20,500 grads compared to 1982.

The data varies on each of these reports, but I have tried to use the most recent iteration of the data, which I assume reflects more complete information for each year.

What does this shift from smaller firm practice to larger-firm practice say about new law grads over this 25-year period?  Over time, did they shun more risk-taking jobs in smaller or solo practices.  Did they seek the perceived security and guaranteed higher salary of the BigLaw?   Were more jobs simply available in the larger firms?

What does it say about law practice, the legal client market, and access to justice for people who would more likely retain a small firm practitioner?

Now let's take it forward through the years of the last economic recession.  NALP reported that BigLaw (500 plus) hired 3,600 new associates in 2012, down from 5,100 in 2009, but up from hirings in 2011. Employment opportunities at BigLaw rose 27 percent over the last two years.

But what about employment in small and solo practices.  This data relies on NALP reports for each year available here.  You can see that the data for 2007 varies a bit from the later-reported data shown above.

In pre-recession 2007:

• 576 (2.8%) grads opened solo practices;
• 6,461 (31.3%) found jobs in firms of 2-10 lawyers;
• 4,745 (23%) joined BigLaw (501+).

In 2008, 

• 685 (3.3%) grads opened solo practices;
• 6,479 (31.6%) found jobs in firms of 2-10 lawyers;
• 5,193 (25.3%) joined BigLaw (501+).

In 2009:

• 1,058 (5.3%) grads opened solo practices;
• 6.749 (33.5%) found jobs in firms of 2-10 lawyers;
• 5,156 (25.6%) joined BigLaw (501+).

In 2010:

• 1,039 (5.7%) grads opened solo practices;
• 7,160 (39.1%) found jobs in firms of 2-10 lawyers.;
• 3,750 (20%) joined BigLaw (501+). 

In 2011:

• 1,059 (6%) grads opened solo practices;
• 7,570 (42.9%) found jobs in firms of 2-10 lawyers;
• 2,856 (16.2%) joined BigLaw (501+). 

In 2012 (based on preliminary data):

• 8,200 (about 42.9%) found jobs in firms of 2-10 lawyers.
• 3,600 (19.1%) joined BigLaw (501+).  

The numbers indicate that the recession has forced (or encouraged) more graduates to find jobs in smaller firms or as solo practitioners.  

More recent grads may look at the news coverage of BigLaw layoffs and decide that the opportunities for new associates, over a lifetime, in those firms have become increasingly more limited and full of peril. 

In the interest of full disclosure, I worked at the largest law firm in Oklahoma straight out of law school.  I recall it had over 100 attorneys, but maybe it had about 80 attorneys.  I then moved to what was then the third-largest firm in the world for another three years.   As my career progressed, I moved to a 50 lawyer firm and then a 20 lawyer firm.  Each firm offered stimulating legal work and a very different work environment, culture, management structure, compensation system, hourly billing expectations, client base, and support staffing model.  I enjoyed all but one of those experiences.

Dec. 16, 2013 Update:  A new study shows graphically the shift in the staffing model in BigLaw over the last 25 years.  It shows a dramatic loss of associate positions.  

BigLaw "New Normal" Stories

Mayer, Brown (July 2013): http://www.newrepublic.com/article/113941/big-law-firms-trouble-when-money-dries#

Weil, Gotshall & Manges  (June 2013):  http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/06/24/big-law-firm-to-cut-lawyers-and-some-partner-pay/?_r=0  (60 associates or 7 percent laid-off).

1,000 lawyers and staff laid off on one day in February 2009: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/25/opinion/big-laws-troubling-trajectory.html  (with 2,000 losing their jobs over that month).

Firms shuttering satellite offices:  http://blogs.findlaw.com/greedy_associates/2013/07/mixed-news-in-biglaw-overall-hiring-up-but-layoffs-happening.html

AmLaw 200 layoff list as of 2009: http://www.americanlawyer.com/PubArticleTAL.jsp?id=1202425647706&THE_LAYOFF_LIST&slreturn=20130624105612#wilm

An Improving Employment Trend for 2012 Law Grads

Some qualified good news.  Overall employment for 2012 law grads suggests an improving trend.

The 2012 grads obtained more jobs than 2011 grads, but the class also had more graduates in it. Accordingly, the percent of employed fell to 84.7% from 85.7% the previous year.  The 2012 grads entered law school in the fall of 2009, and so the larger class size apparently indicates the choice of many college graduates to attend graduate school rather than face a job market deep in recession.

The NALP Executive Director, James Leipold, stated: "I continue to believe that the Class of 2011 represented the absolute bottom of the curve on the jobs front . . . ."

Many of the stories about job prospects for law school grads compare current employment rates to the pre-recession rate of 2007.  This comparison misrepresents the situation because employment that year represented a 24-year high of 91.9% according to NALP.   I compute the 20-year average (from 1988 to 2007), as 88.7%, which is still 4 percentage points higher than the 2012 employment rate.

About one half (50.7%) of the employed 2012 graduates got a job in private practice, up a bit from the year before.  However, this employment rate lagged behind historical averages of 55-58%.  Firms with more than 500 lawyers offered improving opportunities for new grads by providing 19.1% of law firm jobs, up from 16.2% in 2011.

On the other end of the spectrum, small firms (2 to 10 lawyers) provided 8,200 jobs in 2012 up from 7,600 jobs in 2011.  In 2011, these small firms provided 42.9% of new jobs for grads.  About 6% of new 2011 grads entered solo practice.

Jobs requiring bar passage provided 64.4% of jobs for 2012 grads, falling slightly from the 2011 rate of 65.4% -- but falling ten percentage points below the pre-recession 2008 rate of 74.7%.

Jobs in which employers preferred a J.D. degree, but did not require bar passage, increased from 12.5% in 2011 to 13.3% in 2012.  The 2012 percentage for this category set a new high since 2001, when NALP began tracking the category.

At the same time, the unemployment rate rose a bit from 12.1% in 2011 to 12.8% in 2012.

The National Association for Legal Career Professionals (NALP) has reported preliminary data, which it plans to finalize in August. The press release announcing the data appears here.  The data reports outcomes 9-months after graduation, which may fail to represent long-term prospects for law grads, as I discussed in an earlier blog found here.   Percentages reflect only those graduates responding to the NALP survey.

As we begin a new recruiting season in graduate schools, I wonder how many other professions offer employment rates of 84.7% in this recovering economy.  And, what is the employment rate for new MBAs? If you know, please comment to this blog.