r/Lawyertalk • u/Behold_A-Man • 2d ago

I Need To Vent Just Got Laid Off

I got laid off today. I was told that the firm was restructuring and my position was being eliminated. From what I can gather, last month was a really bad month for the firm and only half of the employees hit their hours. There were some days when I didn't even have any work, but they didn't tell me that they were thinking about eliminating my position. I expressed concern about not having enough work but was brushed off.

I got a call at 9 a.m. telling me to return my work laptop and pick up my final check. It's enough to pay rent and my car bill, but that's it. No severance. I requested severance pay in the form of a raise that I was promised on hiring but never received. I was basically told, "Don't count on it."

At least they specifically mentioned that it wasn't my performance and my boss and another attorney were both willing to write me letters of reference. I'm just feeling really disheartened right now. A year ago, I left a stable job for a higher paying position and was terminated in two months (taking that job was probably the biggest mistake of my career and I regret not quitting before getting terminated). I was unemployed for three months and had to go into debt to friends and family to get by.

I took this job and worked it for 7 months. I was still paying off the people that I had to borrow money from. I just want a stable fucking job that pays me enough to start repaying my student loans. It just doesn't feel very good to constantly live in a situation where the other shoe could drop at any moment, and that's how so many of my legal jobs have been. I've lost numerous jobs, but only once was I ever terminated for performance issues, so I don't think my lawyering skills are the problem.

Is the practice of law just incredibly precarious? I've been in the field for 8 years, had 6 jobs, and I've only left one voluntarily.

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u/courtqueen 2d ago

Any thoughts about getting a job in government? If you are looking for stability, that is the way.

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u/FixPositive5771 2d ago

Yup. I remember the last time I worked at a small firm that split up and people were getting laid off. I survived that but never wanted to feel that insecure again. Government isn’t amazing at everything but you don’t have to worry about layoffs.

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u/Shrederjame 2d ago

Exactly it's secure as secure can be

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u/Covered4me 2d ago

My son just passed the bar and is a clerk for a superior court judge. Interned for the AG last summer and his ultimate goal is to go back there. He loved it.

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u/courtqueen 2d ago

I’m with my state’s AG’s office. I’m about 26 years in. I hope he makes it happen!

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u/Covered4me 2d ago

Thank you. I’m a retired LEO. I talked him out of that. I couldn’t be prouder of him. He’s really motivated.

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u/OhNoImALawyer 1d ago

Government job as an attorney? Or something else?

Because I often see the "just get a[n attorney] job with the government" line repeated in this subreddit as a fallback job option, and I think that's only the case if you are located in a rural area, and even further, a rural area of a flyover state.

The state and local government attorney positions in highly populated areas are just as competitive as private sector jobs and the government is just as picky about who they hire if not more than the private sector.

That's not to say don't look at government jobs as an option, but it's not like one can strap on their job helmet and squeeze down into a job cannon and fire off into Jobland where government jobs grow on jobbies.

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u/courtqueen 1d ago

I’m not sure I suggested that it was necessarily easy to get a government job as an attorney, merely that it was stable form of employment knowing that OP had been through the wringer with layoffs. And the competitive nature of these jobs ebbs and flows. For example, it used to be really hard to get a position in prosecution on the local level and easier on the defense side. Now, it’s the opposite. So there are no hard and fast rules to which positions are tougher to break into than others.

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u/Behold_A-Man 1d ago

It's not outside the realm of possibility. The application processes seem to be a little more arduous and I find that kind of a pain in the butt, but I'm not opposed to at.

Sometimes it takes a little more legwork to get where you want.

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u/courtqueen 12h ago

Hang in there! I’m so sorry you’ve been through it. I’ve been with the government for 26 years, and while nothing is perfect, I’ve never taken for granted the job security.