My husband works for a large law firm. They used to regularly hire new lawyers every fall after law school graduation and opened several offices around state. Now they don’t. Instead, they had to close several of their smaller offices and are regularly laying off good experienced lawyers. When the economy tanked, few people could pay their legal bills and they are still trying to regroup.
I’m sure if you look at these openings, you’ll find they’re looking for 20 years experience in technology patent litigation or something like that. You must have experience being the lead attorney in cases involving billions of dollars, then we might consider you.
IMHO lawyers are to blame for their profession’s business downturn. The legal profession has charged far too much for their services, and as a result, increasingly value-minded public are very adverse to paying $400 - $1000+ / hour for services.
Attorney’s and law firms have tested price elasticity to the breaking point, and individuals and small business’s cannot afford crippling blank check legal bills unless absolutely necessary.
I wonder if some law practioneers have tried significantly lowering their prices in order to thrive?
Also, a lot of the grunt work that newly hired associates used to do is now offshored to India.