The R-Word and the Job Market for Lawyers

By Maren[LLM GUIDE] in Editor's Blog on Mar 22, 2008

Hi Everyone! Even as the admissions decisions arrive from US and UK law schools, one of the liveliest discussion board threads has been one about the current job market for lawyers and LL.M. graduates. How has the sub-prime crisis, turbulence on the global financial market, and fears over a recession affected the job market for lawyers and graduating LL.M. students?

It's true, there have been widely publicized layoffs at big-league firms lately, but overall assessments of the legal job market depend on who you ask. Some papers are forecasting tough times ahead for lawyers, particularly for firms specializing in finance, mergers, and acquisitions. Others see light at the end of the tunnel, particularly for lawyers who can help out with insolvencies, sub-prime litigation, and the like.

At least these are the media reports coming out of New York and London. Does anybody have an insider view of the job market that awaits LL.M. graduates in these places, as well as other financial hubs like Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Singapore, ...? How bad is it out there?

Comments

ivan2006, Mar 26, 2008 22:15

Well, it is hard to say. While I know people that will graduate this year that have secured jobs in NY, the majority of the LLM graduates I know (many with outstanding grades; and by outstanding I mean a GPA of 3.9 at a T5 school) still have not secured anything at this point (although they did have interviews with many law firms). Last year, someone with these credentials would work at Cravath; this year, it doesn't matter. There are many reasons for that, apart from the R-word: first, all firms overhired last year. In a booming market, it doesn't really matter, since banks and private equity firms could hire lawyers and there would be new openings. However, in a context where the 5th biggest bank on the Street disappeared, PE firms are looking for ways to get out of closed deals and that other banks seem to be on the line (e.g. Lehman), nobody will change jobs. Second, it seems that the banks are having a tough time making their pitches and making money flow: the lack of liquidity in the market is certainly a big issue. Right now, it looks like there are few IPOs (market's too turbulent), some debt offerings, a lot of debt restructurings and some M&A (as there are some distressed companies that could be acquired at a good price). I have heard the litigators are extremely busy, though.