Job Security is Top Benefit

As paternalistic as many law firms are, a number of managing partners believe that fear of losing your job is a great motivator. That may be true if the firm’s desire is to motivate employees to look for another job, but a survey conducted by the Society for Human Resources shows (for the fourth year) that job security is the most valued aspect of employment, ahead of compensation, benefits and even doing challenging work. The most valued aspects of employment, in order, are: (1) job security, (2) benefits, (3) opportunity to use skills and abilities, (4-tie) the work itself and the financial stability of the organization, and (6) compensation.

Are Contract Lawyers Getting Blacklisted?

Recently the blogosphere has been busy reporting comments from recruiters that being a contract associate with a large law firm is the kiss of death in getting a job as an “on-track” associate with another law firm in the future.   This is a sword that cuts both ways because many law firms are pursuing staffing strategies that require large numbers of contract or staff attorneys. And, if these positions get the reputation of being dead end jobs, firms may have difficulty recruiting good people to fill them.

We talked to a number of law firms that recruit heavily for lateral associates. The view toward hiring former contract lawyers for lateral partner track positions was…”Maybe.” It turns out that it is a bit of a vicious circle. To keep salaries low and avoid rapid turnover, firms that use contract associates tend to focus on candidates from second tier law schools or who ranked in the middle of their class. In part, this is because those are the lawyers who are most readily available and in part because better qualified lawyers are more likely to be disgruntled with contract positions and disruptive to the program. Therefore, lateral recruiters tend to see the title “contract associate” and assume the candidate has mediocre credentials.

The stigma placed on contract associates is an interesting conundrum for the new staffing model at many firms.

Facing Up to Facebook

Law firm Chief Marketing Officers have been aggressive in getting their firms to use Facebook and other social media to promote the firms’ brands. For example, Fenwick & West maintains a very full page with lots of downloadable documents, photos of firm events and Newsfeeds with posts like, “…OMG. Snoop Dogg is in the Fenwick West conference room right now for USTREAM tv event.”

But many other law firms are repulsed by the concept of having a Facebook page, considering them unprofessional. Well, surprise, almost every large law firm now has a Facebook page whether they want it or not. On April 19^th Facebook began creating what they call “Community Pages” which allow users to connect with people who share common interests and experiences. To get the process rolling, Facebook created pages based on information in user’s profiles. So, if a secretary with a Facebook page says he works for the law firm of Smith & Jones…Smith & Jones got a Facebook community page. 

Okay…no big deal…so your firm has an unrequested Facebook page. Here is where things get interesting. The automatic creation of Facebook pages doesn’t stop with law firm’s names. If the Smith & Jones secretary decided to get cute in the description of his job that he posted to his profile by listing his title as “Overworked Employee” guess what? There is now a community page for Overworked Employees at Smith & Jones. So then we have Bimbos at Baker & McKenzie, Slaves at Skadden Arps, Whipping Boys at McDermott Will, Porno Stars at Herrington & Sutcliffe and Paper-pushers Extraordinaire at Shearman & Sterling. Apparently some law firms have as many as 500 pages, although the majority are for more legitimate topics like partners, litigation associates and legal researchers.

Now, before you fire up your class action suit against Facebook, consider that a recent survey by the National Law Journal found that 70% of in-house lawyers between the ages of 30 and 39 had used Facebook for personal reasons in the past 24 hours and 50% had used it for professional reasons in the previous week. The social media is established and will continue to have influence on the business of the practice of law.

New Qualification for Law Firm Hiring

A developing trend in candidate selection for businesses in general and specifically for law firms is placing greater value on foreign language fluency. As firms are more active in handling international transactions and follow clients’ interests globally, they have an increased demand for and appreciation of foreign language capability in their lawyers and staff.   Even though English is rapidly becoming the international language of business, having native language capability is deemed to build credibility and is especially helpful in corresponding with regulators and government officials in foreign countries. Although Spanish, Chinese, Russian and Portuguese are the most valued languages, HR managers favor capability in any language by candidates for any position. As one administrator told us, a file clerk who spoke Slovenian was invaluable in a recent energy deal her firm handled. An added benefit is that, apparently, individuals who speak a second language have above average English spelling and grammar skills, and high attention to detail.

Best Excuses for Being Late to Work

We’ve always thought that law firm employees come up with the most creative excuses for being late to work. Here is the latest collection (including some from outside the legal industry):

·         …had difficulty adjusting to the climate change from winter to summer.

·         …was concerned about the impact of an impending comet.

·         …cat was struck in the flat of the pet door.

·         …delayed by volcanic ash.

·         …house was on fire.

·         …bank robbery occurred in front of his house.

·         …police were taking fingerprints from a stolen car that blocked the employee’s car.

·         …a horse jumped over a hedge and on top of her car.

·         …someone moved his teeth.

We anticipate getting even better excuses in the future as the economy drives more firms to pay more attention to punctuality. Interestingly, most law firms say that, unless tardiness was a frequent and ongoing problem, they would not fire an employee for being late.

LegalTrends

LegalTrendsis a semi-monthly newsletter written and edited by Ed Wesemann, a Founding Partner of Legal Resource Group, LLC. Ed is also a management consultant and advisor to US and International law firms. In addition to being the author of LegalTrends, he also pens articles for EdWesemann.com that is emailed to thousands of subscribers around the world. In addition, he has written four books on legal management issues. For further information visit the Legal Resources Group website at www.LRGLLC.com or Ed's personal website at www.edweseman.com. He can also be reached at 1-912-598-2040 or by email at Ed@edwesemann.com

Legal Resource Group, LLC

Legal Resource Group, LLC specializes in serving the Executive and Administrative recruiting needs of law firms.  We maintain the largest data base of law firm Executive and Administrative staff in the world.  This allows us to immediately identify the very best candidates. We find the best people, complete searches faster and have extremely reasonable fees. Simply-- Our Reputation Speaks For Itself.