FIRED....
It Hurts to Lose Your Job, but Developing a Clear Job Search Strategy Will Help Ease the Pain
BY MARTHA NEIL
The phone rings. your review will be conducted in five minutes
by the head of the associate evaluation committee and the chair
of your practice group-in your office.
Uh-oh, you think. I don't remember my evaluation last year being
done this way.
That's exactly how it happened to one associate who was let go
by a major East Coast law firm. And he admits that the experience
left him shaken. The attorney says he feels "sideswiped"
by the whole experience, and nearly a year later he's still not
sure he'll ever want to practice in a big firm again. Instead, he
is attending a graduate program in the arts, hoping it will lead
to a legal career that makes use of his intellectual property experience.
"I've thought off and on of returning to work at a law firm,"
he says. But he hesitates to do so "for fear that I would spend
the first six months looking over my shoulder," worried about
getting fired again.
He's not alone in his distress. In the midst of the worst recession
experienced by the legal profession in at least a decade, more and
more attorneys are out looking for work after losing their jobs
or while worrying about the possibility.
"It's definitely a market where we see people losing their
jobs, and we see firms disappearing without fanfare," says
Kathy M. Morris, director of the ABA's Career Resource Center in
Chicago. "And, of course, that sets people to thinking they
could be next."
A POSITIVE SPIN
While finding a new position isn't easy these days, career experts
say lawyers looking for work should try to view the search as an
opportunity. With the right approach, they say, it's possible to
land a more satisfying-and sometimes even more lucrative-position.
Carol M. Kanarek, an attorney who works full-time as a career counselor
and coach in New York City, urges legal job seekers to be optimistic,
at least about their long-term prospects, even though she says the
job market is worse now than it was during the recession of the
early 1990s. "This is, by and large, just an economic blip,"
says Kanarek. "It is not an indictment of their abilities or
their potential."
That may be so, but it's hardly reassuring to the lawyer who can't
wait for an economic upturn to look for work.
"I wouldn't wish it on anybody," says Michael P. Maslanka,
who practiced employment law for 20 years at a Dallas law firm until
it folded in 2001. Feeling the pressure to find another job as the
firm was dissolving was very tough, says Maslanka, even though his
search ended fairly quickly. After three or four months he joined
Godwin, Gruber, where he now chairs the labor and employment section.
Most crucial to his own job search, says Maslanka, was an extensive
network of contacts and friends who provided emotional as well as
professional support.
"I was able to get interviews; people returned my calls,"
says Maslanka. "It really did help me get through a very tough
time in my life. I really can't emphasize that enough. The people
in my network were very supportive of me when my firm went under.
"It would've been much more difficult for me without the support
of a lot of people."
Other lawyers looking for work, however, paint a bleaker picture
of the current job market.
A lawyer from the West Coast, where legal business was hit hard
by the collapse of many dot-com companies, sees a similarly challenging
job market.
"The reality is, there just aren't that many transactional
openings out there right now, and there are a lot of people who
look just like me out on the street," says the lawyer. He says
the economic slowdown was a factor when he was let go as an associate
at one firm, and he lost a job at another firm when the partners
split up.
At this point, "I'd really take anything, just about, to make
ends meet for a little while," says the lawyer, who is considering
moving elsewhere with his wife and family to find legal employment.
This lawyer says he has come to appreciate the job security of
having one's own clients, even as an associate. "I know that
I'll be more focused on client development now than I was before,"
he says, "because I don't want to be in this position again."
He says he also plans to be more careful to learn about the political
environment at prospective new firms. "When I'm interviewing,
I'm paying a lot of attention to, and I'm asking questions about,
the firm personality, how people get along," he says. "I'm
especially interested in how the associates perceive the partners'
relationships with one another."
In the ultimate job move, some attorneys are contemplating new
careers outside the law.
"The way I see it now," says another young transactional
lawyer who lost his job, "the chances of me practicing law
again without moving-which I'm not going to do because my wife has
a good job-are very slim. I'm taking the CPA exam. I've had more
success talking to accounting firms than I've had talking to law
firms."
One of the most important factors in how a job search ends is how
it begins, career experts say. The best thing to do is think first,
then act.
Morris urges job seekers to "get their attitude right and
get some information. And don't assume the best or the only thing
for them is exactly what they've been doing-especially if they have
not liked it. What they need to do is see the problem as the opportunity
to make a good next choice" in line with long-term career goals.
While developing a plan for your job search is critical, so is
being flexible, says Bonnie Feinberg, acting director of legal career
services at Golden Gate University School of Law in San Francisco.
"It's good to have a general plan, to have an outlook, to
strategize and map out where you want to go and how you want to
get there," says Feinberg. But at the same time, "Let
there be some give in the plan. If you're so dogmatic that you only
see the one path, you're going to be in trouble."
Sometimes, that flexibility has to be over the short term, says
Feinberg. "People obviously have to be flexible, to the extent
that they can, to make ends meet," she says. "It may not
be the dream job, but you have to secure something and do what you
can to ride this out."
Feinberg says it is important to identify abilities, such as legal
research and writing skills, that can be transferred from one legal
area to another. Otherwise, she says, focusing a job search too
narrowly in a practice area for which law firms aren't hiring may
doom a job seeker to defeat.
Kanarek also emphasizes flexibility. For instance, she says, "Being
geographically flexible can be a career saver during difficult times."
Linda Vernon Goldberg was an associate at Chicago's venerable Keck,
Mahin & Cate when she began planning her departure as the firm
slipped toward its eventual dissolution in 1997.
First, recalls Goldberg, "I pulled out What Color Is Your
Parachute? and a couple of other books on 'What do you want
to do when you grow up?' " She made lists of the best and worst
things about the work she was doing at the time, "and then
just thought about a financial profile-'What do I really need to
get by?'-and a lifestyle profile -'Do I want to work as many hours?'
"
For Goldberg, the strategy worked splendidly. She left Keck, Mahin
in its waning days and went directly into a new job.
"I often tell people I'm one of the biggest beneficiaries
of Keck's downfall," says Goldberg, who took an in-house position
at Shorebank Corp. in Chicago and has worked there since. "Five
years I've been here, and I've been really, really happy,"
she says.
THE TEMPTATION TO SUE
Lawyers aren't immune from the temptation to respond to a job loss
by contemplating a lawsuit alleging some form of wrongful or discriminatory
discharge against their former employers.
But career experts and employment practitioners caution newly discharged
lawyers to consider legal action carefully because it can have ramifications
for job searches, even if the legal grounds for claims are well-founded.
Don't burn bridges, says employment lawyer Maslanka. "There's
a tendency," he says, "to want to say, 'Oh, you're going
to lay me off? Fine. Now let me tell you all the reasons why I hate
you.' That's not productive."
Deciding whether the benefits of suing outweigh the drawbacks is
a very individual, fact-specific decision, says Richard N. Grey,
an employment lawyer in Encino, Calif. And even employment practitioners
tend to be too emotional about their own cases to evaluate them
objectively and assess potential damages accurately, he says. So
it's a good idea to consult outside counsel as early as possible
to get objective advice about the case.
In the meantime, says Grey, "You want to be just very cool
and maintain your professionalism" with the firm you're leaving.
Unfortunately, word of a lawsuit gets out among other firms the
attorney may soon be contacting on a job search, says Helen Norton,
a professor at the University of Maryland School of Law in Baltimore
who co-chairs the Committee on Equal Opportunity and the Profession
in the ABA Section of Labor and Employment Law. And even though
it's illegal for a prospective employer to refuse to consider an
applicant because he or she filed a discrimination suit against
a prior employer, "It does happen," she says.
Moreover, committing energy, time and resources to pursuing a legal
action can detract from job search efforts, say experts.
Perhaps a more productive course, they say, would be to seek a
favorable severance arrangement with the former employer. This might
help to buy time and provide some support for the new job search.
Unless a law firm is dissolving, it may allow a departing attorney
to maintain a presence at his or her office for a period of up to
several months while seeking new employment.
The lawyer may also be able to negotiate for the right to use the
office for a much longer period, as well as for such things as favorable
references and extended health insurance coverage.
Maslanka says this "effective severance" can be even
more important during the job search than money, since it's generally
easier to find work while still employed.
Sometimes, however, an aggressive bargaining approach pays off
financially, as well. One former associate at a major firm says
he parlayed the possibility of a racial discrimination suit into
a severance payment of more than $50,000. He even insisted on having
signed copies of his reference letters in hand before executing
a release to the firm. The severance payment is helping him pay
for graduate school.
STAY TUNED TO A NETWORK
Whether they are just out of school, changing firms or seeking
totally new directions in other fields, lawyers embarking on job
searches must be prepared to use all the tools at their disposal,
experts say.
Experience is, of course, precious, say lawyers who have been in
the job market recently. Rainmaking ability, at least for lawyers
seeking to join new law firms, also helps candidates stand out amid
the competition.
"If you lose your job in a tough market, you really have to
rethink what you're going to do," says an attorney who relocated
away from the East Coast and joined a small firm after losing jobs
at two different large firms. "Because if you don't have any
clients, and you're in private practice, having clients is the name
of the game. Then the question becomes: Can you get clients and
keep clients? Not everybody has the ability to develop clients,
but fortunately, I do."
But it is networking more than anything else that may hold the
key to a successful job hunt. Career experts say lawyers looking
for a new job should network as much as possible, even with contacts
who might initially seem to be unlikely sources of help.
"Speak to everyone you know, including your hairstylist and
the woman who cuts your nails, the guy who mows your lawn,"
advises Golden Gate University's Feinberg, since you never know
who they may know. "You don't have to ask anyone directly for
a job, but it's really imperative that you ... spread the word that
you're looking for a job."
The ABA's Morris says job seekers shouldn't hesitate to contact
people they haven't kept in touch with. "We're all guilty of
falling away from those good intentions of keeping up," she
says, "and yet there's a professional willingness to help."
A good question to ask yourself in such cases, says Morris, is whether
you would want the other person to call you if the shoe was on the
other foot. If so, pick up the phone.
Jeanne M. Gills of Chicago, a partner on the hiring committee of
Foley & Lardner, says she was amazed when a friend and law school
classmate didn't tell her for six months that he had lost his job
in California. Meanwhile, a position was open at her firm that would
have been suitable for him, she recounts.
"But by the time he talked to me the timing was off,"
says Gills. "Had he promptly contacted me, he could have had
a job with our firm, and I think he would have been happy with that
job."
Friends and colleagues also can be an important source of that
precious commodity called perspective.
Gills cites another friend who was hesitating over an offer to
move from one in-house counsel position to another out of concern
that his new salary, while more than he was making in the old job,
would be low in comparison to some corporate in-house lawyers with
his experience. " 'This is still, for you, at this level, a
move up,' " she recalls telling the colleague. " 'It's
not to say that it's the pinnacle. You will always move up. But
sometimes it takes a job to get an even better job.' "
Yet another friend "had become so depressed with the prospect
of the job search that it was coming through as he was looking,"
says Gills. So she decided to conduct a private mock job interview
with him, asking the same kinds of questions that she would normally
ask an actual applicant at her own firm. Then they discussed what
he would do differently in the future when he went on job interviews.
Shortly afterward, she says, he found work.
For those who lack experience and an established network of professional
contacts, there are ways to compensate for a thin resumé
and an empty phone list. Volunteer work and temporary positions,
for instance, can offer a young attorney the chance to gain experience
and develop skills in a particular practice area while making contact
with other practitioners.
CLASSMATE CONNECTION
Another avenue for job seekers is contacting fellow alums from
their law schools and colleges, as well as joining local bar associations
and participating in committees and other activities in areas of
interest to them.
"Many of the law schools now have people who are oriented
to helping junior-level alums who have been laid off," says
Kanarek. "And even if they don't provide counseling, get an
up-to-date alumni directory and use that to begin a networking process."
Kanarek says it is useful to send out letters or e-mails of introduction
to fellow alums. In addition to initiating contacts, she says, these
letters can provide an informal market assessment of which skills
are in demand while "just seeking advice as to how they may
have made a tran- sition" themselves.
Morris suggests that lawyers looking for work check legal publications
for news of lawyers who have moved to new firms (the old firms may
now have vacancies to fill) and talk to other lawyers who have been
looking recently (they may be aware of job openings that just weren't
right for them).
But effective networking involves more than just making calls and
showing up at bar or alumni meetings, says Feinberg. Making the
most of conversational opportunities to network "is an art
form," she says. She advises job hunters to study techniques
in job-search manuals and Internet sites listed under "informational
interviewing."
While networking is vital, however, it shouldn't be the only thing
a job seeker relies on, Gills emphasizes.
"My advice is to do multiple strategies in parallel,"
she says. For example, "Work for a temp agency, send out multiple
letters, and get a headhunter," she advises, referring to the
employer-paid placement consultants who sometimes are willing to
work with laid-off lawyers who have excellent credentials. "I
think the only time you try one strategy in isolation is when you
think it has a high likelihood of success."
Kanarek offers a side benefit to developing job-hunting skills:
They're a lot of the same skills that are used to obtain clients.
Regardless of the directions that job searches take, says Kanarek,
lawyers should retain their ties to the legal profession. She offers
the example of an attorney who worked for a year and a half at a
bookstore after losing his law firm job in the recession of the
early 1990s. "And now he's a partner at a well-known midsize
firm in New York," she notes.
Kanarek urges young lawyers especially to persist: "You went
to law school, you got your degree. You need to get yourself licensed,
continue your professional education, even if you're doing something
else in the meantime.
"There is light at the end of the tunnel."
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JOB SEARCH HELP FROM THE ABA
A wide range of information on finding new jobs and other career
changes is available through the ABA Career Resource Center. Among
those services is the Career Counsel Web site, at www.abanet.org/careercounsel,
which includes information on ABA books and other publications that
address job hunting and career change for lawyers, a Q&A Web
Board on which questions may be posted for career experts, links
to career resources at the state and local levels, and a Business
Development Toolkit that helps lawyers hone their rainmaking skills.
ABA members may use the ABA Web site to link to EmplawyerNet at
www.abanet.org/advantage/career.html,
which provides online access to more than 6,000 law job listings
from around the United States. Among the other career services offered
by the ABA are two books, titled Direct Examination: A Workbook
for Lawyer Career Satisfaction, and Objection Overruled:
Overcoming Obstacles in the Lawyer Job Search. Both books may
be ordered through the Career Counsel Web site or by calling the
ABA Service Center at 800-285-2221.
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Martha Neil, a lawyer, is a legal affairs writer for the ABA Journal.
Her e-mail address is neilm@staff.abanet.org.
ABA Journal is a member benefit of the American
Bar Association
©2003 ABA Journal
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