Monday, January 12, 2009

Poor Lawyers

A sort of interesting topic came up in the comments at this thread. So, the question becomes, are there poor law students?

Don't get me wrong. I understand that there are a lot of people who live on very little while they go to school, but I don't think I ever considered them poor. The definition of poor to me includes eating popcorn and ramen noodles three times a day and not being able to pay for simple expenditures like, say, an unexpected medical bill. Of course, I put poverty at a lot lower than even those things because I've done and had to deal with those things, both when I had money and when I did not.

But it appears that there can be poor lawyers in a bad economy.

As law firms downsize, laid-off attorneys and new law school graduates unable to find jobs have been turning to an option they may never have imagined at law school: becoming contract attorneys -- hired guns for $35 an hour.

Yet in the past couple of months, even that field appears to be showing signs of a slowdown.

Blogs devoted to the topic of contract attorneys are rife with complaints about the lack of work, particularly in New York and Washington; sudden ending of jobs that were supposed to be long term; and the demise of such formerly standard perks as free lunches and car fare.

Thirty-five bucks an hour still isn't chump change, but for the lawyer used to making $150 an hour, it's quite a comedown. Still, it's always interesting to see professionals have to live in the world of the average employee.
Blogs devoted to the topic of contract attorneys are rife with complaints about the lack of work, particularly in New York and Washington; sudden ending of jobs that were supposed to be long term; and the demise of such formerly standard perks as free lunches and car fare...

Resounding with complaints about working conditions at temp agencies -- including cockroaches and a lack of air conditioning -- nosediving fees and tax nightmares, as well as advice about which agencies to avoid, the blogs do not paint a pretty picture of life as a contract attorney.

One Washington attorney who did not want to be identified said that he worked as a contract attorney for a year after first moving to Washington "because it was the quickest thing I could do."

The attorney worked for several staffing firms and was sent out to several law firms. Some places he worked were acceptable and some bad, he said. At one job, he was not allowed Internet access and had to sign out to go to the bathroom. At another job, he was allowed to listen to music on the Internet, which made the 14 hours a day he was "looking at boring e-mails" bearable.

It's interesting when legal jobs sound amazingly like the same environment your average office worker lives in.