LawCrossing Adds 12,000 New Legal Jobs Even as Law Firms Cut Jobs, Decrease Year-End Bonuses

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) December 5, 2008 -- Reed Smith was the latest in the list of major law firms to announce layoffs. The firm announced in a memo that it is laying off 115 support staff in its various US offices. The law firm only recently took on a handful of displaced Thelen attorneys, 14 to be exact, including Thelen energy partner and firm rainmaker Ellen Bastier. Meanwhile, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe has also announced suspensions of counsel and associates in its structured finance, real estate, and corporate litigation practice areas.

''The San Francisco legal market has suffered considerably in the financial crisis and economic downturn. Orrick is among a growing number of firms in the area who are struggling, and even crumbling, in the weak economy. The oft-discussed collapse of Heller Ehrman and the dissolution of Thelen are still fresh on everyone's mind. Recently laid off associates are likely to have a tougher time finding new work,'' says A. Harrison Barnes, the founder and CEO of LawCrossing.

Members of the legal community have also not been satisfied about their compensation recently. According to the Associates Survey 2008, satisfaction over compensation among mid-level associates has been dipping since 2007. That said, associates have become more accepting of the decreasing payouts that are offered to them because of the shortage of legal jobs in general. The survey, which was conducted among 7,259 associates from 180 firms, showed that 81% of the respondents had taken out law school loans and that 77% said that they still have a balance. This explains why many legal associates fear losing their present jobs over pay issues in today's challenging market.

Bonuses, according to law firm consulting group Altman Weil, are usually worth at least 10% of an individual attorney's base pay. But this year, the downturn has forced many AmLaw 100 companies to slash bonuses in half or eliminate special bonuses altogether. In an informal survey of its readers, Above the Law found that almost one fourth of practicing respondents would accept a bonus of zero this year to avoid layoffs and that more than half would accept a bonus of $20,000 or less.

''Legal professionals are bearing the brunt of the recession in more ways than one'', says Barnes. ''They have to handle legal problems related to other layoffs and take care not to lose their own jobs, too. But what's important in this whole scenario is where legal jobs are actually searched for. If one searches in the right place, one is bound to end up with a good job.

''LawCrossing is the pioneer in introducing new search features for finding legal jobs, and is the largest legal job board in the world. The site provides resources for law students, attorneys, and legal staffers alike, with active jobs totaling around 140,000 legal positions as of this week.''

For more details, log on to www.lawcrossing.com.