WASHINGTON, D.C., June 10 (DPI) — “Career segmenting” at top law firms across the U.S. — the process of offering non-partner-track jobs paying much less and often based outside major metro areas — is growing apace and attracting greater attention.
Reports in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal describe the process in which major firms, some with up to 2,000 lawyers, are restructuring their practices by hiring what in effect are permanent associates based in places like Wheeling, W.Va., and Dayton, Ohio.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/24/business/24lawyers.html
The shift, gathering steam at corporate law firms like Wilmer Hale and McDermott Will & Emery (both mentioned in The Times article) , is seen as a response to clients’ so-called “vomit point” — that point at which clients can no longer stomach $900-an-hour and $1,000-an-hour legal fees. It also reflects the decline in major capital activities, such as equity and debt transactions on Wall Street and major real estate deals, which depending on their complexity sometimes justify such fees.The shift is seen too as a response to the “the steep professional pyramid” in which fewer and fewer lawyers can realistically be expected to ascend to partner.
Lawyers privately say the influx of accomplished women in the profession, many of whom have faced the “Mommy track” career option for years, hastened a shift to making more lawyers “permanent associates.” Law firms are now “institutionalizing the Mommy track,” lawyers say.
Many reader comments responding to The Times article were surprisingly supportive of the idea, particularly if lower paying jobs offered greater job security and satisfaction. A Minneapolis lawyer posted, “Having spent several years in a large law firm where non-partnership track positions were nonexistent, I can confidently say there are many, many attorneys who would jump at the chance to get paid less for lower billable hours and a regular schedule.
“You quite simply cannot dedicate yourself to your family as a full time partner or partnership-track associate in private practice, unless you can literally survive on less than five hours of sleep at night. There simply are not enough hours in the day to do both effectively.
“I know countless attorneys who left firms not because they disliked the work, but because they disliked the lifestyle. It’s not as if these attorneys are stamping in a manufacturing plant.”
One of the most highly recommended NYT posts asserted that the problem is simply too many lawyers seeking employment: “Nobody has told the law schools that the $160,000 jobs are dying out. Tuition has skyrocketed and wages are collapsing. Take it from a 2007 graduate, get thee to plumbing school. ”
As a result, lawyers of long-term established smaller practices, which face the same difficult economic environment as large firms, are enjoying greater professional flexibility — and higher job satisfaction rates — than practitioners at the largest firms, according to several attorneys.
( Digital Press International – 6/6/2011)