“I am a third year law student who’s getting ready to graduate next June.  I’ve been looking hard for positions with law firms, but there’s not a lot to be found.  Also, I’m finding myself competing with older lawyers who have been laid off from jobs with large law firms and corporations.  What advice would you give someone entering the legal profession right now?”

While it’s hard for a lot of people to feel sorry for attorneys, there’s a real bloodbath going on in the legal profession right now.  Large and medium sized law firms – tied as they are to working for large and midsized corporations – are laying off young lawyers, and even partners (!), in all time record numbers.  Students who have been offered jobs with law firms upon graduating law school are now being asked to “wait a year” (without compensation) before joining the firm.  Some laid-off lawyers have even been asked to return money the firm advanced for their bar examination and other upfront expenses, with the threat of being sued if they don’t pay up quickly!

What’s worse, a lot of these lawyers being laid off don’t have marketable skills.  What do you do with yourself when all you’ve done is manage mortgage-backed securities deals for the past decade of your career?

It has never been a worse time to be a lawyer in the United States.

It has also never been a better time to be a lawyer in the United States.

Like any other professional, lawyers must learn to adapt to changing times.  And boy are we ever living in changing times!  While a lot of traditional legal careers are being flushed away in the current economy, there are a lot of new career opportunities being created out there, if you’re clever enough to spot them and position yourself to take advantage of them.

The next few years are likely to see the biggest explosion in government in U.S. history.  Whatever we may think about that as citizens, taxpayers or business people, big government means a lot of work for lawyers.  But not all lawyers.

Here are some areas you should look into:-  Tax Law – especially the litigation and enforcement side.  Governments at all levels are under pressure to squeeze every penny they can out of delinquent taxpayers.  They need lawyers to represent them, as do the delinquent taxpayers.  Anyone who thinks the Tax Code will ever be simplified is fooling themselves.

-  Environmental Law – the Government is making a big push for a “greener” America and solutions to the global warming problem.  If you have a background in science or biology, there has never been a better time to pursue a career in environmental law.

-  Antitrust Law – since 1980 the Government has not been aggressively enforcing these laws, but the current Administration has signaled they will be looking at big companies like Microsoft and Google closely for anticompetitive, monopolistic behavior.  The young lawyers who go into this field now will be the big law firm partners of tomorrow.

-  Regulation of Financial Institutions – if you want to do “Wall Street” type work and corporate law, forget about mergers-and-acquisitions and public offerings.  Get on the “enforcement” side of securities practice and learn how to prosecute or defend securities regulatory cases (such as fraud and insider trading).  Banking and securities regulators are gearing up to play a much more vigorous oversight role than they have in the past, and there will be jobs aplenty for lawyers who understand the economics of Wall Street and can figure out “where the bodies are buried”. 

-  International Law – as globalization continues and the Asian superpowers continue to grow and expand, two things are certain:  companies in Asia will be looking to expand their international operations worldwide, and Western governments will be looking for ways to protect their domestic industries legally from foreign competition and domination.  There will be lots of opportunities here for lawyers, especially for those who speak one or more of the Asian languages.  Don’t speak any of them?  Start learning – your future success (and not just as a lawyer) may well depend on it.

-  Bankruptcy Law – need you ask why?

-  Estate Planning – as the Baby Boomers get older and older by the day, they will be looking for creative ways to pass their wealth on to future generations, and keep a Government starving for tax revenue from taking it all when they die.  

Whatever field of law you decide to go into, keep one thing foremost in your mind.  The days when a lawyer could have a successful career working for other lawyers’ clients, without any clients of their own, are over.  Permanently.  To succeed in the legal profession now, you need to develop clients of your own as soon as is humanly possible, and learn how to keep them happy. 

Just as Chairman Mao once said “power grows from the barrel of a gun,” power in any law firm grows from your clients, and the revenue they generate.  No law firm will ever lay off an attorney whose clients account for a significant portion of the firm’s revenue.  Anybody else . . . is expendable.

Cliff Ennico (cennico@legalcareer.com) is a syndicated columnist, author and former host of the PBS television series 'Money Hunt'.  This column is no substitute for legal, tax or financial advice, which can be furnished only by a qualified professional licensed in your state.  To find out more about Cliff Ennico and other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit our Web page at www.creators.com.  COPYRIGHT 2009 CLIFFORD R. ENNICO.  DISTRIBUTED BY CREATORS SYNDICATE, INC.