Unfortunately, the legal industry is not immune to the affects of a slowing economy. The credit crunch has taken a particularly heavy toll on law firms specializing in real estate, finance and securitization.
The economic slowdown has prompted layoffs at some of the nation’s largest law firms. Most recently, New York-based Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft announced the layoff of 96 lawyers in the United States and Britain, bringing its total count of attorney dismissals to 131 in 2008 (the firm slashed 35 lawyers in January).
The legal industry has weathered market downturns in the past, most notably, the savings and loan crises in the early 1990’s and the demise of the dot-com boom in 2002. However, industry experts do not believe the current market slowdown will rise to the level of those crises. The National Law Journal sums up the market by noting: “A look at the bigger picture shows a profession responding to the economic downturn rather adroitly.”