You Are Never Safe and You Are Not Special - Lawyers Are Becoming Like the Rest of Us and Developing Multiple Sources of Income

On professional anonymous networks it has been the buzz: How to pick up side hustles and should those be kept secret from the ruling power in Big Law? Now, Law.com officially documents that is happening. 

No Safe Harbors

Lawyers have joined the growing number of employees who do work for pay beyond the day job. For the majority of those I coach what's driving that trend is the raw need for additional money to make ends meet. For the lawyers I talk to it's the realization that in Big Law you are never safe. Over and over you might be told that you are on-track. Then comes the email to meet with a partner and HR. You’re finished.

Remembering Shinyung Oh

Extreme employment insecurity isn't new in Big Law. Back in 2008, associate at Paul Hastings Shinyung Oh told the world that she had been informed that she was performing well. That's when she outed that she had been fired for performance reasons, six days after a miscarriage. 

Revolutionary in those days, she told her side of the story in a firm-wide email. Her mission was to help others in that pickle to be liberated from shame about dropping the ball on performance. She attributed the termination to Paul Hastings’ own financial challenges. Not anything she did or didn't do.

After the ax fell, she tried selling real estate and then studied for a degree in family counseling which LinkedIn listed as her profession. She admitted that practicing law is a narrow niche and not easily transferrable to other career paths. 

Path to the Next

Side gigs not only spread the financial risk. Incidentally, a nest egg isn't going to last long in HCOL locations. Also working another hustle can bring confidence in a profession in which it is typical to be continually thrown off your game. In addition, they have the potential to develop into another career path. Had Shinyung Oh created a side hustle when at Paul Hastings her post-law journey might have been easier. 

Given that much of Big Law has traditional cultures, it is wise to keep the gigs under wraps. No, don't talk about them with colleagues. 

Same-Old on Layoffs

Meanwhile, layoffs continue throughout Big Law, especially in corporate practices. The recovery of demand expected in fall hasn't happened. With high interest rates that might not happen any time soon. It is not impossible that lawyers will be inspired by the effective power moves of UAW head Shawn Fain and consider unionization. Also, thanks to unionization, drivers at UPS, without any academic degree, can pull down $170k. At the very least belonging to a union would give them an advocate on the way out. There can be negotiated more severance and time on the website. 

Who’s Got the Work

Paul Weiss, as is well-known, is among the few actually hiring for laterals in corporate. That’s been all the news on Reddit and Fishbowl. Globally and domestically it has been strengthening its private equity and tax practices. 

A rising tide lifts all boats. Among Paul Weiss' long-term clients is alternative investment management firm Apollo. Its CEO Marc Rowan, who took over when Leon Black stepped down, is disrupting the niche through mergers and acquisitions. That provides plenty of transactional business for its law firm. 

You Are Not Special

With the global economic slowdown and threat from generative AI more lawyers should be focused on diversifying their sources of income from work. Their meme should be: I am not special. The cruel joke could be that not so long ago their mindset probably likely was: Don’t they know who I am.

Full Disclosure: I have three sources of income from paid work and fees. I do not feel secure in any of them. Daily I conjure up fresh strategies to get, hold and move on to better assignments.

Data or the gut for your careers and communications? Both of course. Complimentary consultation with intuitive coach, content-creator, and Tarot reader Jane Genova (text 203-468-8579, janegenova374@gmail.com).