On what could go down in legal history as The Friday Massacre, today - and it's just beginning - Latham & Watkins confirmed that it is cutting 190 associates. THE NATIONAL LAW JOURNAL also reports that Lownenstein Sandler let go eight percent of its attorneys [subscription required but clip available on Law.com.]
America's middle and upper classes have had a genius for pulling off magical thinking or superimposing fantasy on what should be on reality. That might have just ended. Not only are we getting it that things are that bad. We're also digesting that this economic ordeal could go on for years. Here is global advisory firm The Dilenschneider Group's analysis of this crisis Download WorldinCrisisLookstoaNewEra.
For unemployed attorneys and members of the law class of '09 the end of magical thinking might mean, as friends and family have been advising laid-off attorney Dan Zoloth Dorfman, "to look outside the law." So, where is there demand in work that former attorneys might be able to do?
Humor is one. That market is always strong and it surges during hard times. Many comics such as Charlie Chaplin got their start during the Great Depression. Dan Gerstein, President of Gotham Ghostwriters, has put out a call for those who can create humor. As for performing humor, the best route is to develop a niche identity and try it out locally such as in senior citizen complexes. Incidntally, Gerstein is also in the market for book ghostwriters [Dan@GothamGhostwriters.com.]
Sales is another. The easiest way in is to apply for commission-only positions. From there, if you find you can sell, there's unlimited earnings runway. Eventually, you can set up an enterprise coaching others to sell - products, services, causes, and themselves. Although America is known for its marketing prowess, on an individual basis most professionals haven't been oriented to selling. Yet, it is the most important skill as we make progress on the food chain.
Pet services is a third. My vet says that business has slowed a little. But that has nothing to do with other kinds of pet services, ranging from grooming to grief counseling after the four-footed companion has died. Psychic Sylvia Browne, who has shown herself to be an astute marketer, has just published "All Pets Go To Heaven: The Spiritual Lives of the Animals We Love."
A fourth is aspects of health care and education. Fuse a legal background with the needs in those fields and a good living might be had.
Often, rituals get us through tough transitions. Think wakes, bachelor parties, having dinner with friends after a romantic loss. Displaced attorneys can invent one for daring to try other things. Recommendations: Throw out the lion's share of books, notes, and clipped articles schlepped around over years of schooling, first job, second job, and abortive job hunt. It wasn't until I did that that I was able to write my first book.
great site!
http://universityforall.com/
Posted by: maxttex | February 27, 2009 at 12:30 PM