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Friday, September 07, 2007
Law - There is hope for old lawyers!
"Desperately Seeking Seniors" is the heading of a long and fascinating story by Elizabeth Goldberg
in The American Lawyer. It begins:
When Howrey decided to open a New York office, CEO Robert Ruyak knew that the firm needed lawyers wise to the ways of the city. So three months after the November launch, Ruyak convinced three self-described "old geezers" with 129 years of combined experienced to come aboard. Sure, Michael Armstrong, 74; William Purcell, 65; and Paul Rooney, 69, are old enough to remember Mayor John Lindsay and $6,500 associate salaries. They're also old enough to have vast networks of contacts that Howrey can now ply for recruits and clients.Howrey isn't the only firm eager to snap up senior talent. McDermott Will & Emery poached trusts and estates expert Henry "Terry" Christensen III, 62, from Sullivan & Cromwell in July to globalize its private clients group. LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae hired securities litigator Ralph Ferrara and international arbitrator Arthur Marriott from Debevoise & Plimpton in 2005, when both were in their 60s. And several large firms competed for William Carmell, 67, last fall when he faced mandatory retirement at Winston & Strawn. He is now helping the labor boutique Ford & Harrison grow its New York outpost.
No longer will the 60-plus set just take a pension and slink off into the sunset. Lawyers are living longer and healthier, and many want to stay professionally active well into their 70s. According to the American Bar Association, which has called for the elimination of mandatory retirement, the median age of all lawyers rose from 39 in 1980 to 45 in 2000 and is still climbing.
This demographic change has split the legal industry. On one side are law firms (57 percent of firms with more than 100 lawyers, according to a survey by Altman Weil Inc., legal consultants) that require older lawyers to leave at a certain age. On the other side are firms without strict age limits.
Economics are driving the split. "The younger people want to make more money," says James Matthews III, explaining the view of firms on the mandatory retirement side of the divide. He is a lawyer at Fox Rothschild who represents law firms in labor and employment matters. "The senior people have been making money for a long time, and for the young people to make more, the old people need to go. It is just as mercenary as it sounds."
Posted by Marcia Oddi on September 7, 2007 11:08 AM
Posted to General Law Related