THE LAWYERS WEEKLY
January 15, 2010 | 21
BUSINESS
CAREERS
PK - PHOTOS / IS TOCKPHOTO.COM
New year, new job
VALERIE MUTTON
Last year was a grim one for young associ-
ates in the legal profession. Take Daniel Lyons,
for example. He graduated from Queen’s
University’s law school in 2005, and after arti-
cling got his masters degree in 2007. In taxa-
tion, no less. You would think that such cre-
dentials would open any number of doors —
but not in last year’s economy. Lyons was
unemployed from March to December 2009,
finally landing a position with a boutique tax
firm just before the holidays. “I was lucky,” he
said. “My unemployment (benefit) was due to
run out soon.”
And it’s not just those in highly specialized
areas like tax who had a tough year. Young gen-
eralists had an equally hard time: Lyons’ com-
mon law spouse has been unemployed since
last January. Other young associates have been
the victim of firm restructurings. Those who
were unlucky enough to graduate from law
school into the recession faced the added diffi-
culties of dwindling choices for articling posi-
tions at the beginning of their term, and com-
peting with unemployed juniors with more
experience at the end. There’s even been an
uptick in lawyers hanging out their own shingle
— not out of a great desire to go it alone, but
simply as a way to make some money while
waiting for jobs at bigger firms to open up.
Be humble
Good honest work is good honest work,
whatever the type. If you were a poor student
who paid your way through law school by waiting tables, and you’re short of cash, now’s the
See Jobs Page 26
