Associates, Looking to Switch Firms? Think Twice . . . .

[WSJ_law_blog]

We’ve written lately about the resiliency of the market for lateral partners. What about for lateral associates?

We asked some recruiters. The report is not good.



Alan Rubenstein of Chicago Legal Search called out real-estate associates for living in a particularly grim predicament right now. “Across the board concern is being expressed by real estate associates about just how much they’ve slowed down and whether they’re going to be able to be even come close to making hours,” he says, “and whether there will be layoffs as a result of that.”

As for corporate, he says “We’re still getting some searches. It’s softened significnatly from how active it was in spring of last year.”

As predicted by Hildebrandt International and Dan DiPietro over at Citi Private Bank, litigation and bankruptcy aren’t making up for the lull on the transactional side.

There’s a “modest pickup,” Rubenstein says. “Probably not to the degree that one might expect given that those areas tend to run countercyclical.”

Cynthia Sitcov in D.C. dialed in a similar report. “We don’t see a lot of lateral hiring right now for associates.” Bankruptcy? “We’re not seeing it.”

There are anomalies, including demand for hard-core IP – the patent jobs for the engineering types, she says. Sitcov does have a search open for a real-estate associate to work with a D.C.-based partner with a national practice. She thought it would be easy to fill, but so far some potential hires have been reluctant to jump.

“We’ve been really stunned,” Sitcov says. “I wonder if the market is changing in some fundamental way?” Maybe it’s the uncertainty, she surmises. “People do not want to pick up and move on the associate level right now.”

LB’ers: You’re on the ground, in the firms. What’s the prognosis?

Photo: iStockPhoto

[randalljd]

We have received a lot of reports of corporate work slow down in the Chicago area.