Archive for the ‘law firm jobs’ Category
Those seeking legal jobs have little to seek solace about during 2009, but a lawyer story reported in LawFuel gives a good insight into the changes that have taken place in the uk legal industry in the past decade, with a major move towards the major legal 
centers of London and New York. Clifford Chance’s David Childs (pictured) and others speak.
The National law Journal took a look at what it takes to get a law jobs in the new environment. In a down economy, law firms across the spectrum of size, geography and practice concentration have reduced their hiring goals. We all know about the layoffs – boring. But while some law firms have disappeared and law jobs have gone by the thousands, the financial turmoil may herald changes in the recruitment process that could eventually work a fundamental restructuring of employment in the profession. Here are some steps jobseekers may consider to help adapt to the new recruitment practices. 
n a buyer’s market, law firms can afford to be more selective. Reduced profit margins and client demands for more efficient service, moreover, make every hiring decision more important.
As a result of these economic changes, firms have begun to apply more stringent criteria in hiring, and some have employed more rigorous new forms of screening. Both the ABA Journal and American lawyer, for example, recently reported on the use of “behavioral interviewing,” in which candidates are asked specific questions about how they have handled difficult circumstances in the past.
Kiwi legal job recruiter Damian Hanna wrote in his law recruitment blog about the strange world for recruiters at present. Tell us about it! But there’s some light out there, says Damian:
“There is definitely more of a sense of optimism around and for the first time in quite a while, there have even been a number of options for junior lawyers. I have recently met quite a few younger lawyers who, after sticking things out for the annus horribilus that has been 2009, have said ’stuff this, I’m off to London’.
“Whether it is the onset of summer, the prospect of a new year which will hopefully bring a new beginning or just people being fed up with being pessimistic about things, it seems that the tide has turned and to borrow a phrase from one of Ireland’s most over-rated performers D:REAM – “things can only get better.”
“So with this in mind, I opened up the latest edition of (the very good) NZ lawyer magazine to see who was advertising, only to find a total of 3 job advertisements in the whole edition. Back in the heady days of 2006 and 2007, there probably would have been 20-30 and it seemed as if the whole publication was one big recruitment fest with some articles thrown in to break up the ads.
“Historically, Seek would have 300-400 legal jobs. As I sit here now, it has 223 legal jobs in NZ, quite a number of which are different agencies advertising the same job. (Yes, we do do that!)
“So where is the truth? Is it getting better or worse?
“My opinion, which I’ve outlined in earlier posts, is that the worst is behind us. I believe that people will start moving jobs, if only because they are sick, sore and tired of what they are currently doing. This will create some fluidity in the market which will result in the current stagnant market unraveling somewhat. Hopefully in conjunction with this, the law firms will feel confident enough to start making some positive hiring decisions and will be considering how they should be staffing up in anticipation of the wave of people who will leave these shores when the overseas markets pick up.”