Ask The Shark Pimp - Part 1: He's Alive!

Remember back in February when we asked you to submit your questions about the Nevada legal market for Jordan Ross (a.k.a. "The Shark Pimp") to answer? Well, we have finally received his responses, so all of you unemployed associates who were waiting for these answers may now continue your job searches. Here is Part 1 of our 3-month interview:

I’m glad to have another answer and question interview here at Wild Wild Law. I only regret that the circumstances couldn’t be better. I apologize for taking so long to get back to all the loyal readers here. I’ve been buried in work just trying to keep even with the market. The same is true of all professionals in this stressful market. With that in mind, let’s see what’s on everyone’s mind right now.

Question 1:

Do to the recession, some previously transactional-only associates have been "transitioned" to litigation. What kind of (if any) opportunities exist for these associates to transition back to transactional work if/when the economy rebounds? If you practice litigation for a few years, are you pigeon-holed a litigator?

Moving practice type (as opposed to practice area) is difficult to do in the first place and frequently you find yourself losing your seniority in the process. That loss of seniority may involve your taking a so called “haircut” (which means a cut in salary to a more junior year). However it’s not as challenging as changing your practice area. So if you were to for example move from Real Estate Transactions to Real Estate Litigation or perhaps switch from Corporate Transactions to Commercial Litigation, while you need to understand this is no walk in the park, the transition is relatively intuitive.

On the other hand if you move from say, Franchise Law Transactions to Intellectual Property Litigation, the transition is going to be a lot more difficult. The whole process may in fact set you back or make it difficult to return to your old practice.

Having said all of this, it’s a very different situation when your existing firm encourages you to transition your practice. They will probably be much more receptive to your moving back when times get better. And if they are trying to get you to change, be opened minded – this may the signal that they can’t feed your current practice and a change in practice may be needed to keep your job.

Question 2:

From your perspective, how bad are things in the Nevada legal market?

Bad.

Don’t be a smart ass. How Bad?

As I’ve said in the past, unlike the general economy in Southern Nevada which is directly driven by the gaming industry, the legal economy is driven largely by the real estate industry. Now, that’s not an absolute statement, but in general it’s very accurate.

With the slowdown in the very high rates of emigration to Nevada and the collapse of real estate prices, eventually the industry will run out its excess inventory both residential and commercial probably at about the same time the entire global economy recovers. But I don’t see full recovery until around January 2011.

Question 3:

Do you think that government jobs are a better bet in this market because of the job security they (may) offer?

If they have no food in the refrigerator and kids to feed, I’m not going to tell someone to pass on a public sector job. But for the attorneys I deal with, commercial practitioners, try to avoid that. When things recover, it will not be an asset to have that on your resume. Moving to a private sector job could be a one way trip. Most such hiring is frozen right now anyway. One Chief Deputy District Attorney told me that Clark County has never seen so many attorney resumes.

If you can keep yourself from tying that noose for another couple days, stay tuned for Part 2 of the interview.

(Ross Legal Search, LLC)