We all know about the paradigm shift in the legal industry.  It has been well chronicled by Richard Susskind,  Jordon Furlong, Ron Friedmann and many others.  The legal industry melt down, the deep and rapid technological advances (of the disruptive kind), our relentless connectivity and burgeoning electronic legal marketplace — all have led to major threats to various aspects [...]

The prospects for an accelerating global economic recovery were supported on Wednesday as Adecco, Swiss-based and the world’s largest temporary staffing group, said employment trends had been improving in recent weeks.  Adecco’s legal division includes contract attorney staffing agencies Ajilon Legal and Special Counsel, the latter of which it acquired through its acquisition of the MPS Group last year.
The [...]

It could mark one of the biggest changes for lawyers joining the profession since the first U.S. bar examination was given in Delaware in 1763 — a single bar exam aimed at standardizing attorney credentials nationwide. Next year, at least 10 states are expected to switch to the Uniform Bar Exam, and 22 other jurisdictions [...]

One refuge for many contract attorneys has been direct employment as a staff attorney at a number of firms that adopted the “staff attorney” model for document review and temporary work.
But as Above the Law has continued to report, one casualty of the economic recession could well be the position of staff attorney.  They have reported [...]

In July 2009, Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft put 34 associates on an involuntary sabbatical.  Now, as reported by Above the Law (click here) the firm is offering to hire them back as contract attorneys, with possible hourly pay between $45 and $65. 
The web site Law and More (click here) follows up with two major issues [...]

 
Midsize law firms in the Midwest, outside the biggest cities, are hiring lawyers, opening offices and bringing on new associates this fall as they fare better than many larger urban rivals in the face of the recession.
Law firm leaders at the firms, with between 100 and 450 lawyers, say their better fortunes are mainly tied [...]

Confronted with orders to control legal costs and rein in expenses, general counsel throughout California are now taking dramatic steps that were virtually unheard of only a few years ago. Salaries are being decreased. In-house lawyers and staff are getting pink slips. Law firms are being pressured to lower their hourly rates. And some companies [...]

As has been reported, there were layoffs this week at Womble Carlyle.   But that was not the big news.  The big news was Womble decided to address the general retrenchment of the legal market in a very frank way, remarking on a sea change in corporate law practice.  “The world of large law firms … has changed forever” said Womble Carlyle in an internal memo.   [...]

We covered Richard Susskind’s speech at the ABA TechShow (click here) and we had previously covered his thoughts in our “Changing Legal Landscape” series (click here).
Today’s Legal Blog Watch reports on a trend of BigLaw being dumped for lower-priced boutiques following the lead of DuPont and adding firms with 300 or fewer lawyers to their [...]

The paradigm-shift
Almost 7,000 lawyers have been laid off in the first two months of this year.  And all are not yet accounted for.  In today’s New York Times Adam Cohn dissects the paradigm-shifting changes taking place in the legal profession.  Noting the massive layoffs and venerable firm closures, Cohen suggested that these events are a [...]