A potpourri of items for you on this fine election day:
If you happen to be voting in Laughlin, you may actually recognize one of the names running for constable as our frequent, fashion-conscious commenter.
ATL posted a story last week about Nevada attorney Jonathan Goldsmith's lawsuit over "mean Facebook Comments." Are we really into the upper 11,000's with bar numbers already?
U.S. District Court Judge Roger Hunt granted a TRO and ordered Joanna Kishner's censure to be rescinded. We imagine it may be difficult to un-ring that bell. (PDF of Order)
Meanwhile, judicial candidate Ron Israel was censured for exposing his political party on a campaign flyer. (LV Sun)
An interesting conversation in the comments caught our eye yesterday, and we wanted to see what you guys & gals thought. It started as follows:
This is a bit off topic, but . . . A recruiter from Ballard Spahr has contacted most of the associates in my firm's litigation department regarding openings. We have also been contacted by local recruiters for positions at unnamed firms. I also understand that Gordon & Silver is actively recruiting.
We are a bit surprised - our litigation department has been busy but we are still hearing that the economy is making things tight.
Any thoughts on the expansion by these firms? Is the economy turning around? Are any other firms actively looking for laterals?
Then, our local Shark Pimp (and past WWL contributor), Jordan Ross, weighed in with his analysis:
I think the best and most cautious way to describe the state of the legal economy in Las Vegas is that it has bottomed out. There are some definite signs of improvement; I'm currently looking for a Commercial Litigator, a Insurance Defense Litigator and a couple of IP attorneys, among others. By the way, the people in your firm were probably contacted by an outside recruiter; it's almost unheard of for an in house recruiter to solicit non-equity attorneys. Budgets are still very tight right now and any potential new hire has to pencil out well into the black, but yes, I think we are starting to see some improvement. For myself, this is shaping up to be an oddly lucrative year.
Let's do a little impromptu poll regarding our current legal job market. From where you currently-employed commenters sit at your various firms, do things seem to be looking up? Or, possibly, are we seeing the calm before a post-holiday storm?
With the down economy and the amount of people emailing us for work, WWL will be posting job openings from time to time. We won't post every job that comes across Craigslist, but will allow employers to send us their job opening announcements if they include salary, benefits and billable hours requirements (if a billable firm). With that preamble, here's our first offering sent in by our old friend Mr. Ross:
LITIGATION - INSURANCE DEFENSE
Ross Legal Search is seeking a candidate 3-6 years out. High Volume litigation experience only. This is a law firm Associate opportunity in Las Vegas. Law firm experience and NV Admission is required. Salary is 90K. Benefits include health insurance coverage for the associate beginning on the 1st of the month following 30 days of employment, productivity bonus starting at 1750 hours of up to 20K per year and entry into a 401K plan after one year. Must have a minimum of 2 years of Nevada Insurance Defense experience. Position includes work in First- and Third-Party Insurance Defense, Construction Defect, Insurance Coverage, Fraud and Bad Faith. Construction Defect experience as well as experience in trial, court appearances and depositions is desirable but not required as the client is willing to train in these areas.
If you wish to send us your resume, please e-mail it, as an attachment, to info@rosslegal.com, in Microsoft Word or Word Perfect format.We ask that resumes not be submitted in PDF format or in the body of an e-mail message.
Do you think the recent BigLaw layoffs will send a flood of ivy league grads to Nevada in search of jobs? If so, how will this affect the legal market in Vegas?
Not that many. We have no reciprocity in Nevada and getting someone to move to Las Vegas is damn hard. Trust me; I know this better than anyone else.
What advice would you give to Boyd 1Ls, 2Ls, and 3Ls with regards to landing a job? Who is the most screwed out of that group?
3L’s are the most screwed if they're asking, because so much of what you need to do is too late by then. Listen carefully, here’s what you need to do, none of which is exciting or secret: 1) Stay sober. Drunk and stoned will not help your g.p.a. one bit. The nerd who thinks you’re an irresponsible jerk who parties too much will probably be in better shape than you at graduation. 2) Study like your life depends on it. I can not tell you how much your class rank counts and at Boyd if you place below the top 15% you don’t get ranked on your transcript (which I think is politically correct nonsense). So if you graduate in the top 16% for all a potential employer knows you graduated at the bottom of the class. 3) You need to do everything you can to summer between your 2nd and 3rd year. Job offers at graduation are much higher for this group. In general you need to work like a slave in a salt mine and be out in the legal community.
Do you still have attorneys coming to you looking to lateral, or is it mostly attorneys who have been laid off?
Both. If you have a job, do everything you can to hold on to it. Making a lateral move without a book of business is virtually impossible right now, so after you do everything your firm wants you to do each week, spend another 10-20 hours a week marketing to potential new clients.
In your opinion, what are the top 5 firms in town (taking into account salary, quality of life, benefits, and billables, if applicable)? The bottom 5?
The Shark Pimp fears nothing and no one. He answers questions with no care for the opinion or feelings of others leaving death, blood and destruction in his wake. Except those questions. What, are you nuts? Here’s your answers – the best firms are my clients, the worst firms aren’t.
Have associates lost the ability to negotiate for salary with firms?
They never really had it to begin with. Urban myth. Remember the boiler room in the movie Glengarry, Glen Ross? Leads are for closers. Well in legal salary negotiations, negotiations are for people with book. No book of business, no negotiation. Have a nice day.
We'd like to thank Mr. Ross for his time and frankness in responding to these questions.
Today we continue with Part 2 of our interview with legal headhunter Jordan Ross:
Question 4:
Can you talk about negotiating pay with small firms that may not have set salary grades for incoming employees?
You can but unless you have something really valuable to bring to the table in this market, probably not, especially if you’re a junior associate. Keep in mind Boyd Law just put 142 competitors for your job onto the market.
How do you determine what is reasonable?
For a high volume commercial job it should at least be on a par with what Associates in the Civil Division of the Clark County District Attorneys Office earn. For general commercial jobs it’s reasonable to expect to be no more than 20% from the bottom of the salary range for your class among general commercial firms. For consumer jobs, I honestly don’t know how salary ranges are determined. But again, in this market, I wouldn’t push my luck. Be glad you paycheck doesn’t bounce.
Question 5: What is your opinion of this article (from ATL):
Someone asked me about this recently. How many ways can I express how skuzzy and sleazy it is for a recruiter to take money from a candidate? And this is the Shark Pimp speaking, kids. No recruiter who belongs to NALSC (National Association of Legal Search Consultants) would do this; it’s a blatant violation of the NALSC Code of Ethics. Even without that, it’s an obvious conflict of interest in that the recruiter has a fiduciary duty to his or her clients; how can the client trust a candidate that’s promised the recruiter a kickback? And no professional search consultant in any industry with any dignity or respectability takes payment from a candidate. Even employment agencies that deal with non-exempt employees don’t do that except amongst the lowest of bottom feeders. If you are tempted to do this, you might consider paying a professional career counselor, but good ones are few and far between and they’re primarily of value to executives, not professionals.
Question 6: How is your business model holding up under current economic conditions?
Fine, thanks for asking. From one perspective it hasn’t changed much for me personally. There is virtually no demand for candidates from search firms for Associates right now. I recently placed an Associate a few months ago, but frankly this was the first Associate I placed in over six years other than some Associates who came with a Partner or were outplaced (neither of which I’m compensated for). My practice has for many years, been predominately Partners and Of Counsel.
Has your fee changed at all due to the current economic climate?
No. Hey, you know what, let me say that again. No.
Stay tuned for our final installment of the Shark Pimp Trilogy, and feel free to post any follow-ups in the comments.
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.
Congratulations to all of you who recently completed the Nevada bar!
So, how was it? We're sure some of our soon-to-be-graduating readers would appreciate a heads-up on the subjects tested. If you took it, let us know in the comments.
Also, we have extended the final day for submission of Shark Pimp questions through Sunday, as we know a lot of you catch up on your legal gossip over the weekend. Keep the questions coming!
Finally, don't forget to weigh in with your opinion on cram-down mortgage legislation in the ongoing comment discussion featuring attorney Anthony Deluca.
In this (potentially) downward-spiraling market, we thought it would be a good idea to get another Q & A going with everyone's favorite law firm headhunter, Mr. Jordan Ross. This was very successful the last time we did it, and should be even more interesting now that the market has transitioned from "Vegas to 120" to "please sir, may I have some more?"
Jordan Ross is the only Nevada member of the National Association of Legal Search Consultants. He is the principal of Ross Legal Search, LLC and previously served four years as a Vice-President with John Kurosky & Associates, a legal search firm in Irvine CA. In layman's terms: he finds jobs for those looking to make a lateral move, and he's good at it.
If you have a question you would like us to pose to Mr. Ross about anything related to our Nevada legal market, please post it in the comments or drop us a line at nevadalegal@gmail.com. We will take submissions until Friday, then submit your questions to Mr. Ross. The responses will be included in a future post.
A potpourri of items for you on this fine election day:
