Silver Lining From Law Firm Layoffs

The COVID-19 crisis has impacted nearly all professions, and legal employment is no exception. With approximately 64,000 jobs lost in April alone, the legal profession has been hit hard by the economic fallout from the pandemic.

Despite the gloomy outlook, there may be a silver lining for those who have been impacted: an opportunity for lawyers to reinvent their legal careers.

In a recent article for Attorney at Work, Dave Galbenski, EVP or Strategic Initiatives for Lumen Legal (now Lexitas), addresses the key issues and trends that are changing the landscape of legal services, and how those trends are creating new, interesting, and flexible career opportunities for lawyers.

The Trends Driving New Legal Career Opportunities

Dispersed Workforces: The COVID-19 crisis has made clear that sophisticated legal work can, indeed, be done by remotely working lawyers. Location doesn’t affect performance, and clients care little about where work is being done as long as work is done at a satisfactory level of quality.

New Legal Service Providers: Clients are no longer looking at individual law firms as one-size-fits-all solutions. Instead, clients are pursuing solutions from the right expert—such as an individual lawyer or an alternative legal service provider—to help with discrete challenges.

Take Control of Your Legal Career

These trends have conspired to create new opportunities for lawyers. However, as Dave addresses in the article, it is incumbent upon lawyers hoping to reinvent their careers to take control of the process and position themselves for success by narrowly focusing their practice expertise, building their personal brands, acquiring new skills, and aggressively seeking out available opportunities.