Arbitration & Mediation

Negotiating Law Firm Layoffs: Wisdom from the Trenches

By Victoria Pynchon

Because I litigated the meaning of contracts for more than twenty years, Ken Adams' contract drafting blog is a guilty pleasure. 

Ken's not a confessional blogger like I am.  He's an expert; a teacher; and, a scholar.  But the recession seems to have put more than one seasoned attorney in a mind to share the winding career path that can -- if we're lucky -- lead to a passionate engagement with our occupation. 

Here's an excerpt of Ken's excellent post Law, the Working Life and Innovation.  I highly recommend the entire post to any lawyer wondering what to do with his/her law degree other than what he/she is doing now.

At law firms throughout the land, lawyers are pondering what's in store for them. Here's what I suggest:

If you're a zealous law-firm type, then you'll likely survive the current bloodletting, or at least find a welcome somehere. And if, like me, you're clearly unsuited to law-firm life, you have no choice but to reinvent yourself.

A more tricky choice faces those at law firms who have no great appetite for the work but can tolerate it and have performed well enough not to be culled, at least thus far. If that applies to you, you may be inclined to stick with the devil you know.

I had no choice but to make the leap. I set about making myself an expert in a topic that I found fascinating, then I devised new solutions to meet an evident need. Engaging in that sort of innovation has given me a new lease on life. If you're passionate about what you do, you'll not only derive vastly greater satisfaction from your work. You'll also be more energetic, more creative, and better equipped to win others over to your cause, whatever it might be. As a result, you'll be more likely to weather any economic storm.

So whether your job is currently safe or whether you're one of the casualties, you might want to consider your own potential for innovation, within the law-firm world or elsewhere. The legal profession is a vast, varied, and ever-changing ecosystem. It should offer plenty of underexploited niches for those with enough energy and imagination.

I'm not suggesting that innovation comes easily. It's beyond the reach of most, and even those with the appetite can expect to travel a rocky road and be stalked by failure. But it can provide great rewards. And given that the U.S. is falling behind on too many fronts, innovation isn't simply a matter of individual opportunity, but also of civic duty.

Continue reading here.

Thanks Ken!  You'll never know how many lives your post will change.

Full post as published by Settle It Now Negotiation Blog on February 24, 2009 (boomark / email).