Interesting post from America -
"While Oregon's economy limps along, trying to pull itself out of three years of slow growth and high unemployment, litigation lawyers remain in high demand.
Reflecting a national trend, area law firms both large and small report that their need for litigators has risen in recent years. Schwabe Williamson & Wyatt, Portland's second-largest law firm, hired nine litigation lawyers in 2003 and has hired six so far this year.
Jim Finn, chair of Schwabe's litigation department says, "We have well over 50 litigators here. We have been very busy in the last three or four years, with lots and lots of different kinds of work."
Finn reports that all of the different groups in his department have seen an increase in work, including product liability, employment, construction and commercial litigation.
Schwabe also represents the Archdiocese of Portland, which has been involved in a huge amount of litigation and has now moved into bankruptcy court, generating "an awful lot of work" for the firm.
Finn, who has been in litigation for 25 years, expects business to remain pretty steady.
"In litigation, there seems to be less peaks and valleys ... there are certain areas [in law practices] that wax and wane," Finn says, but litigation isn't one of them. When the economy improves, Finn anticipates increased work for lawyers, and therefore demand for lawyers, in the areas of intellectual property, construction and real estate transactions. "
As we head into recession in the UK it is noteworthy we will be dealing with more disputes so certain kinds of lawyers such as insolvency, commercial and employment litigation can be looking forward to more work.
Those who work in other areas may struggle.
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