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Signs O' The Times

Published: Jan 26, 2009

 Law       

Sunday’s Times takes two (at least) looks at the recession’s effect on the business of BigLaw.  The Business section features a piece which will be old news to even the most casual of industry observers: “Chill of Salary Freezes Reaches Top Law Firms.” The reporting relies heavily on the remarks of one David Lat, who observes, “With salary freezes, you are seeing a sort of reverse ratcheting. If one firm sees a competitor lowering salaries, they feel it’s safe to lower salaries, too.” One fun takeaway from the piece: in 1968, when Cravath raised first-year salaries to $15,000, it was considered a radical move, “akin to a shot heard round the world.” (According this site, $15K is roughly $90,000 in today’s terms.)

Meanwhile, over in the glamorous precincts of the Styles section, it seems employees are burning an enormous number of calories in order to look busy so their bosses will think they’re essential to the operation. Apparently, “Looking busy when you’re not in order to fool the boss can be something of an art form.” Buried among the article’s advertising executives, portfolio managers and Nobu waiters, are a few lawyers. (One of whom is a true innovator: he uses an oscillating fan to trick his office’s motion sensor-controlled lighting system. Thus, he always appears to be burning the midnight oil.)

Another anonymous lawyer featured in the Styles article, a 40 year old corporate lawyer in the Manhattan office of a “950-lawyer national firm,” presents something of a case study in decline. When his billable hours began to evaporate last summer, Lawyer X continued to call clients in a “non-billable, advisory capacity” (whatever that means). X then tried scrounging billable work from other departments. Then X calls former clients. Then law school classmates. Then college classmates. (“But they were all looking to save their own skins.”) He found himself filling his time sheets with non-billable ‘professional development’ items. Eventually, in what is revealingly presented as a desperate turn of events, he volunteers for the firm’s diversity recruiting and pro bono programs. When X is laid off, the reader is not surprised.

-posted by brian

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