Job Seekers

In-house counsel may be overspending on outside counsel despite functioning in an unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic economy. 

Law firms and corporate legal departments were pulling from the cybersecurity talent pool before the outbreak of COVID-19. This pool was not exactly overflowing though. With the sudden influx of employees working remotely and a host of other pandemic-related needs, this pool might have even further narrowed the already hyperspecific criteria that legal professionals are looking for in cybersecurity support. 

In the time before the COVID-19 pandemic, law firm partners that were looking to make a lateral move, particularly to a firm with a national presence, can expect to spend substantial time in the air. However, that is currently no longer the case. And cutting out that travel is serving to compress the timeline for bringing new lawyers on board.

As a way to avoid completely shutting down legal proceedings, court systems across the United States have adopted more remote proceedings during the pandemic. For example, the U.S. Supreme Court upended tradition when it moved oral arguments to a telephone-based venue for the first time in its 230-year history.

About 32% of in-house lawyers were uneasy with using videoconferencing before the pandemic. 

After years of hard work, Rachel Elsby of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld made partner this year in the firm’s intellectual property litigation practice. 

There are new top lawyers who are taking the helm of legal departments as businesses reopen (and reclose) corporate offices and retail locations across the U.S. 

Vince Chhabria had always opted for in-person interviews with law students hoping to be chosen for a clerkship with him, who sits on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. 

It is commonly said that law firm associates need to treat the partners they work for the same way they treat their clients. Call it the “golden rule” for advancing in a firm. 

Hiring for in-house legal counsel spiked in May and stayed in line with Bureau of Labor Statistics reports, which showed more legal jobs were added to the economy recently despite the threat of a possible recession, according to recruiters who spoke with sister publication Corporate Counsel.