For those laid off from Big Law, did you land on your feet?

[Anonymous]

I'm about to be laid off. Senior associate. Main breadwinner. Not sure what the hell we're going to do. For anyone who has had the misfortune of going through this, were you a partner, senior associate, or associate, and were you able to end up with a legal job? Would love to hear your experiences, and I hope, inspirational stories.

[Anonymous]

My experience is from 25 years ago, so it isn't applicable to today's market. Good luck in your job search, OP.

[Anonymous]

good luck!

[Anonymous]

Are you male or female? Does spouse make any kind of $$?

[Anonymous]

This is anecdotal but I know of two people who saw layoffs coming (same situation - main breadwinner, senior associate level). They both started looking before the layoff - one ended up in govt (significantly reduced salary but much better balance - wife upped her income as a result) and one moved out of state after getting an in-house job (could not find one locally). Both were able to land the new jobs before the layoffs but it was close. I know it's stressful but it'll work out. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Yes, in 2009, as a very junior associate in the height of the recession. I made getting a new job my full-time job, and ended up with several offers after about 2 months of looking. I applied to literally hundreds of jobs, and ended up moving across the country (to DC, though my husband had already gotten a sweet but low-paying job here). The single biggest thing is to devote a lot of time to networking. People want to help you. Everyone you know professionally, people you went to school with, people you didn't go to school with. For every job I applied to that I actually wanted, I ran a search on my law school alumni database and reached out to alumni working there to push my resume to the top of the pile. I also reached out within my firm for help, and found that some big name partners were surprisingly willing to make calls for me. Between those two things, I got 3 interviews I probably wouldn't have had otherwise. Try to be patient, as hard as that sounds.

Best of luck.

[Anonymous]

11:06 here again. One more thing, with networking. Know what your "ask" is. Do you have a specific job you want a contact to help with? That's probably the most effective thing to ask for. Do you want help brainstorming options? For alumni you don't already know at offices you're looking at, do you want them to meet with you to talk about the job? Do you want to just reach out and see if they'd be willing to get your resume pulled from the stack so a real person actually reads it carefully? Do you want to meet for coffee (so you can then ask them to pull your resume from the stack)?

[Anonymous]

11:06 / 11:08 is great advice. The only thing I would add is, the people I knew who seemed to come out best from the 2008-2009 layoffs "rode" the law firm paycheck and letterhead as long as they could while completely dropping their billables to look for a job full-time. Easier said than done when you are senior and have ethical responsibilities to make sure your clients' work gets done. But I mention it because it can be so hard to get out of the mindset of staying late, billing time, mentoring summer associates, "maybe if I do a good job they'll keep me ...." Your job is to find a new job, nothing else.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

In summer 2001, saw the writing on the wall with the burst of the internet bubble (was a 5th year). I made finding a new position my job 12/7. Managed to get a job offer just a couple of weeks after being told that I was being laid off and before my official employment at the firm ended (my employment continued for 3 months after I was notified). Others in my firm who kept their heads buried in the sand (denying the existence of stealth layoffs or believing it would never happen to them) had more of an employment gap but eventually all landed in new legal positions (most did need to relocate).

I was frantic to have a new position before officially leaving my firm. In retrospect, I think I still would have been OK to have taken a bit more time to find the right fit rather than taking the first offer. In the end, all's well that ends well. My career took a circuitous route but I am now in-house and none the worse for the detour I took.

[Anonymous]

I was laid off in 2010. Quickly got lots of interviews, settled on a job in a small firm. For an idea of perspective, I went from making 220K per year to 70K (plus a percentage of revenues, which never did amount to much). That job blew. I then jumped ship after less than a year into a in-house role, where I make in the mid 100s, but it's super flexible, I never stay late, and I have a kid now. So in the end, it all worked out.

Luckily, I never adjusted my lifestyle to the biglaw money. We banked most of it. If you are living now so that you HAVE to make 200K +, you might have a problem on your hands and will need to make adjustments.

[Anonymous]

Yep - did it. Knew I wanted gov't. Took long time to get the position, but the work-life balance and job satisfaction is much higher now, even in the pay is much, much lower. Amazingly, even though I know we cut back substantially financially, I don't feel it much. You get used to the new normal relatively quickly, and we still take great vacations. We just don't eat out as much, we watch our spending, budget ,but it's not really a big deal in the scheme of things. Plus our kids are in public school so that helps.

[Anonymous]

So sorry, op. my dh and so many friends are senior associates now and we all feel job uncertainty. Most people in law know this probably isnt your fault. The key is try not to get too depressed, as bc low self esteem makes it so much harder to network. Good luck. And don't be ashamed to take contract doc reviews every once in a while to keep your savings from depleting.

[Anonymous]

Read some posts about this given the Weil layoffs this week, and legal recruiters said the trick is to move fast.

[Anonymous]

Start looking hard now.

[Anonymous]

Just wanted to wish you good luck. I know the market is tough right now. Utilize all of the contacts that you have. Set up coffees. Talk to your law school professors and career services office.

And, as a former BigLaw attorney who does just fine now on about 1/3 of the salary, I can tell you that you do not need to make as much money as you think you do. You can and will adjust to a lower salary. Best wishes!