Legal Sector Gained 1000 New Jobs in August

The Bureau of Labor Statistics's monthly employment report for August was released early Friday and the news was still a bit glum overall--the U.S. economy lost a total of 54,000 jobs. But the news for lawyers and legal industry employees was a bit brighter.

The legal sector handed out 1,000 jobs last month, marking the second straight month of improved numbers for the industry.

BLS originally reported that the field lost 800 jobs in July, but that number has since been readjusted to show an increase of 300 positions. While those numbers lag behind reports from August 2009 by more than 14,000 jobs, they still represent an improvement over the previous two months. In June and May combined, legal services positions declined by almost 4,000. (See our jobs reports for July, June, and May.)

The country's overall unemployment rate inched up, from 9.5 to 9.6 percent. Despite modest improvement in the private sector--which had 67,000 new hires--the overall employment numbers took a hit, in large part, due to the evaporation of government jobs. In August, government employment dropped by 121,000, as 114,000 of the remaining temporary U.S. Census workers completed their duties.

The health care and construction industries showed more progress than most, with 28,000 and 19,000 new jobs, respectively.

For more information about jobs in your area, visit www.WarrenRecruiting.com


source: AM Law Daily

Where Did All the Jobs Go?

These days it seems like every lawyer has been touched by this economic downturn. Either you’ve been laid off from your law job or someone you know has been laid off from their law firm. And the layoffs have now finally reached the Texas market. Well, you’re not alone. It’s been reported that in 2008, around 1800 legal jobs were lost (including lawyers and legal staff). It’s also been reported that in just January and so far in February around 3000 legal jobs have been lost nationally, a number of those jobs here in the Texas market. Those numbers don’t include unreported layoffs or secret layoffs from big law firms that so many of you have been telling us about. Faced with losing a job, the obvious question is what do I do next.

Nationally, lawyers are retooling themselves. They’re retooling their legal resumes to show a broader depth of law practice experience, which is particularly a great idea for the transactional lawyers out there with corporate, finance and real estate experience. While litigation and bankruptcy practices are busy, it’s best to show that you have some legal experience in these busier practices. Lawyers are considering law jobs that pay less, and in some instances a lot less than their previous law firm job. They are thinking about geographic moves to locations with no connection other than a good legal job. And they’re even thinking about non-legal jobs until the economy improves. In these times, it pays to be creative and think outside the box about how to best market your legal skills and distinguish yourself from every other lawyer or candidate out there.