The news has been dominated by the reckless and cruel moves of the fledgling Trump II administration. The policy devastation left in their wake will likely last decades, but there is also a more personal toll, with thousands of federal employees suddenly out of work. And a bunch of them are lawyers.
Already former federal government lawyers have taken to the job market, saturating the lateral market — particularly in Washington, D.C. Bloomberg Law reports that Biglaw firms are inundated with applicants.
Resumes are flowing from lawyers who have worked at the Federal Trade Commission, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and Internal Revenue Service, said Kristin Koehler, managing partner of Sidley Austin’s DC office. “There’s high numbers of them and really extraordinary talent that’s out on the market right now,” she said.
And it’s not like it’s just Sidley seeing this flood of resumes — Haley Lelah, global director of talent acquisition and integration at McDermott Will & Emery, said, “We’re seeing probably at least double the amount of usual applicants. This is definitely a unique situation.”
Over on Fishbowl newly out of work attorneys are looking for tips to make their resume stand above the rest.
They’ll need whatever leg up they can find too. Because as Stephen Springer, managing partner of recruiter Major Lindsey Africa’s DC office, notes, candidates are not in the best position to negotiate with firms when they don’t have a book of business, “There’s only so many dollars that they can put forward to people that are highly skilled, and will probably be very successful in the private sector, but don’t carry an immediate book of business with them.” Plus, as another recruiter, Justine Donahue of Macrae, observes, when it comes to the job market, “Supply is already outweighing demand.”
And while the talent glut is certainly appealing to Biglaw firms, they have to tread carefully. Because many of the federal agencies these attorneys hail from have slowed down or even halted enforcement. Meaning there isn’t going to be a ton of work flowing to Biglaw firms in these practice areas either.
So the rank-and-file, less-experienced attorneys are having the hardest time riding this wave. They’ll have to be out there grinding and networking, figuring out just how disruptive losing their federal job is going to be to their careers (and lives). And hoping for just a bit of luck.
Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter @Kathryn1 or Mastodon @[email protected].