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I was a litigation paralegal back in 2008, and things stayed pretty steady for me. Lawsuits don’t slow down in a recession... if anything, they pick up. But I did see a lot of corporate and real estate paralegals get hit pretty hard. It's hard to say what could happen this time around.
Agree SP1; I can tell you that 08 was brutal for me; I was doing tax & estates; decided to leave the suburbs & go biglaw in NYC; got this amazing position in 07; then 08 came along; most of our clients were referrals from Lehman; I was one of those walking out with my banker’s box; it was brutal; what I learned that if you’re in an specific niche, you’re toasted; it took me a while to get a job in the tax & estates practice to the point where I had no choice but to take a paralegal position for a PI solo practitioner; at 14$/hr with zero benefits; those were the darkest years of my life; kept switching until literally 2023-back to biglaw; it took me that long to recuperate my salary; now iam panicking with this scenario BUT not as much because iam in litigation and I swear the best thing you can do is work in a recession proof niche; I didn’t know how hard can be to land a job in a cushy niche while on recession; never again; I will stay in litigation practice through the end of my working life;
I'm a corporate paralegal and, fortunately, the 2008 recession did not affect me. The company I worked for at the time was a global leader in its industry and had a small legal department (3 attorneys, including the GC, and 1 paralegal). I think there is something to be said for being in a small legal department. Years later, I was working for a different company with a larger legal department (approximately 150 people) and when the company started having financial problems, there were a lot of lay offs in the department. IP was hit the hardest with almost the entire team being let go and just 1 attorney was retained to manage outside counsel. Right now, I'm the only paralegal but the industry isn't as stable as I would like. I'm faced with the difficult decision of looking or sticking it out.
I was a Real Estate Paralegal with a commercial lender. I was in for about 10 years, lost my skirt too. I started over in a big Pharma company. Since I have been back and forth between Pharma and Real Estate/finance. I smell recession coming sooner than anticipated this time. It’s really going to uglier than 2008 soon. Try and find the area of law that the needs are blooming. Healthcare is always on the move. Good luck, be strong, you will develop that thick skin when you come out smelling like a rose!!!!
Mentor
Make yourself valuable and do things you might not otherwise due to add value to your position at this time.
I was a paralegal at Latham in 200i. All non-senior paralegals on my office were fired on the day of the Lathaming (Feb 28, 2009).we got great severance though--6 mos of base.
I was it hated back into biglaw until 2010.
I remember hearing about the Latham massacre! I was at Paul Hastings at the time and we all were very worried that it would happen to us too!
My firm at the time froze our salaries for FIVE YEARS afterwards. The managing partner was overheard in an elevator scoffing, "Where are they gonna go?" about the decision. Yes, I had job security, but I had to practically kill myself for not even a cost of living increase.
I worked in Litigation in 2008 for an AmLaw 100. We had a team of 12 that was cut in half. Many other non-billable positions were cut from the firm as well. Those of us that remained didn’t get raises for a few years and even after the economy improved our annual raises never recovered because the firm became “fiscally conservative.” Recession and the fear of recession is the perfect excuse for firms to trim the fat, so I fully expect that to happen. Especially with all of these executive orders.
Back then, layoffs came in waves over. Most firms pushed out under-performers and older, more expensive employees first. No one was particularly safe.
I was just starting my paralegal career and was mostly doing bankruptcy so I was pretty busy and definitely wasn't worried about my job.
I work in corporate law and had quit a job toward the end of 2007 because the Company was tanking. They'd decided to save money on office space and relocate to some extra free space in the warehouse of a friend of the CEO. Unfortunately for me it would add almost an hour to my commute and I didn't think it was worth it. I went out on my own and had one successful year in 2008 and the business tanked. I started looking for Paralegal work and from 2009 - 2011 I got hired and laid off 4 times. Ironically, I could easily find work, but soon after I started the work dried up. One firm assured me they were stable because they had over $3M in receivables that month I started. 10 months later I came back from my lunch to find people packing up boxes and being called into the HR office. My family could never get ahead we just limped along. Several homes in our neighborhood were foreclosed. It was definitely NOT a good time. Finally found a stable profitable boutique firm in 2011 and started teaching night school to dig us out of our hole.
Nowhere is there any signs of a recession
Huh? Fed just released a report saying to expect stagflation.
Insurance defense was busy in 2008
.employers tried to reduce wages based on the economy
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