Friday, April 10, 2009

Job Openings Are Out There. You Just Need to Look.

What Would You Do For a Klondike Bar About 27 percent of lawyers are self-employed, either as partners in law firms or in solo practices. As lay offs continue, I imagine this number will be going up soon. According to the National Law Journal, a law firm can cut costs by an average of $250,000 for each canned attorney and $100,000 for each legal assistant. Unfortunately, cutting jobs is the quickest way to increase cash availability. Where else are they going to make cuts? Cutting out the free danishes in the conference room or recycling post it notes simply won't do it. And what about firing Josh? You know the simpleton who keeps photocopying his face, spends all day texting and keeps calling you "brah". Not gonna happen. He's the senior partner's nephew. So what's a lawyer to do? Recent trends indicate some have looked to states that have smaller gluts of attorneys. Take the great state of Alaska, for example. According to a recent MacDonald Legal Placement ad, commercial real estate is booming in Alaska and firms are looking for multiple commercial real estate associates. You don't even have to be licensed in Alaska. You just need to be willing to sit for the bar. Candidates must have experience in preparing commercial real estate closings as well as know how to wrestle polar bears and skin caribou. The ability to shoot wolves from a plane is a plus. Candidates must be able to prepare closings quickly. Igloos tend to melt. So buck up camper. There's no crying in legal practice. It's not all gloom and doom. Many areas of law (elder law, foreclosures, bankruptcies, divorces, evictions, white collar criminal defense) are thriving. Jobs are still out there. You just need to know where to look. Editor's Note: My apologies to members of the Alaska Bar. My extensive knowledge of Alaska is based on Sarah Palin sketches on Saturday Night Live and watching an episode of Northern Exposure once in 1991 when I was home sick with the flu.

1 comment:

Padmanaban said...

It's useful information
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