Marketplace wants to hear from you
Marketplace, a program of American Public Media (the second largest producer of public radio programming in the country, presumably behind NPR, and producer of A Prairie Home Companion) wants to hear from legal professionals about how the economy is impacting them. From the e-mail I received earlier today:
How is the financial crisis affecting the legal profession?
Corporate law firms have proven adept at navigating financial downturns in the past, but this time things appear to be different. Two venerable San Francisco law firms have collapsed, firms around the country are shedding associates and lateral partners are now available at bargain salaries.
Has the financial crisis changed the way you work?
Big firms aren’t the only ones feeling the pinch. Legal aid services and public defenders around the country are preparing for budget cutbacks – right at a time when their services are needed most.
As part of our ongoing coverage of the financial crisis, Marketplace wants to know how the financial crisis has affected your practice.
Looks like all you have to do is go here and submit some information (as much as you like). Given the growing financial crisis in the country and the impact on legal services, it is important that the fight for money gets some coverage. Whether you respond or not, it is something worth discussing and passing along.
| Print article | This entry was posted by Gideon on December 8, 2008 at 7:33 pm, and is filed under pd system. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site. |
about 3 years ago
I’m glad you posted this Gid. Most folks don’t give a hoot what public defenders think about anything. This is a chance to say something and actually be heard.
about 3 years ago
Making a living as a solo practitioner or as a partner in a small law firm is difficult even in the best of times. The inability of clients to pay legal fees is a problem that is growing, and has resulted in a disturbing trend of self-representation for some types of matters, most notably in family law. Funding is diminishing for services such as drug court, which provides a treatment and community service alternative to prison for drug offenders, the Ex Parte Court (which handles uncontested dissolutions, emergency family law motions, and probate and guardianship matters), and family law facilitators (non-lawyers who assist pro bono family law clients in contested dissolution actions). More people will be forced into self-representation as a result of the downturn, which will result in poor results for those who elect not to hire a lawyer, as well as a slowing down in the judicial process as court personnel are forced to address procedural issues that would not have been addressed had these individuals elected to hire a lawyer. Fees for attorneys cannot be reduced, because unfortunately one of the things that is calculated in a lawyer’s hourly rate is the number of hours of work for which the attorney charges and is not ultimately paid. Most law firms in this nation are small law firms who represent individuals and small businesses, a fact that is often not reported amidst the greater attention given to large law firms which largely represent only corporations and the very wealthy. As the financial crisis is choking the life out of these individuals and small businesses, it has also begun to choke the life out of the small law firms who represent them.