Litigation Support Staffing : The Cowen Group : Ediscovery Recruiters, Candidate Search, Practice Support, Position Placement

I don’t know many people who woke up and said to themselves: “I think I want a career in litigation support or E-discovery.”  But I do think we are lucky to be in this industry.  For all the challenges, long hours, impossible deadlines and difficult egos that professionals in legal services deal with, we have the good fortune to be in a relatively recession proof industry right now.

If you’re in banking, brokerage or financial services you are experiencing a complete meltdown and loss of jobs. Many of those jobs are in information technology, systems, and programming.  What’s more, this crisis is certain to get worse before it gets better.  We will all see the continued loss of jobs in the financial services sector and elsewhere for some time to come. This will lead to a significant number of people trying to break into the legal silo.

How will all this talent flooding the market affect the legal technology job market?

Good question. But here’s the thing -  the legal silo has historically been reluctant to hire from financial services.  Why? Because financial technologists don’t stick around after the market rebounds.

When the market goes down, tech guys  from finance come running to legal. But the moment the market goes back up, those same individuals run back to banking brokerage and financial services…. and the big year-end bonuses that go with it.  Legal Human Resources professionals know this pattern all too well. The last major meltdown occurred during the “DotCom” bust in 2000. How many Wall Street guys are still around in the legal vertical from that last talent migration?

What’s more –the technical nuances of the legal vertical are different.  Database Analysts, Project Managers, and IT Managers from financial services cannot just walk in the door and run litigation support and/or E-Discovery practice groups.

If you are in litigation support, E-Discovery or practice technology you are in extremely good shape from a career standpoint. There are well over 300 open positions across the country in our industry.  Think about it:  How many of you work for a law firm, consultancy, vendor or corporation that has an open position in litigation support or E-discovery?

Very few financial technologists will be able to fill those shoes. That’s called “Job  Security.”  And in tough economic times, I call it “sleep factor” - a.k.a. the ability to sleep soundly at night as the world melts down around you.

Pleasant dreams everyone. :)

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This year’s biggest merger has been between K&L Gates with Kennedy Covington. And now the current buzz surrounds a possible merger between Winston & Strawn and Heller Ehrman. 

The numbers don’t lie. So far there have been 26 new law firm mergers and acquisitions reported in the past three months.   Not to mention the 18 we saw in the first quarter of the year. Compared to last years 27 at this point – 2008 looks to add to that total. 

What does this mean to you and your career? Does this pace of merger activity reduce career opportunities? How does this affect you and your role in an organization?

If history is any indication of what will happen, there should be a consolidation and reduction in staff. 

But this is eDiscovery/Lit Support. The war for talent continues to be fierce…. And I do not see a reduction forthcoming.

There are over 250 open positions for eDiscovery professionals in Corporate, Vendor, and AmLaw 200 Law Firms. 

It’s a buyers market. 

I would hate to be selling a house in this market. But if you have talent and experience in eDiscovery – it’s your kind of market.

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I highly recommend reading Monica Bay’s article, “Can You Adapt?,” in the June issue Law Technology News.  

I too am seeing more of this new breed of techno/e-discovery lawyer.

Many firms have them in place or are looking to hire or develop them and they are discussed at every conference I attend.

Many people see this growing role of staff attorneys and techno-lawyers in litigation support as a threat or source of irritation.

I don’t.

It’s not us versus them. It’s not a competition for visibility within the firm.

It’s evolution, not revolution.

Paralegal, IT or lawyer - there’s plenty of room for everyone.  

As the profession evolves and litigation support becomes more complex and sophisticated, the techno-lawyer can play a valuable role in practice support leadership. Lawyers understand lawyers.  They understand the internal and external clients being served, the specifics of the case and the strategies and goals to be accomplished.  They understand the WHY of what is needed.

Today’s litigation support departments are like chocolate chip cookies.  There are countless ways to make them, depending on what ingredients you have in the house.  How many chips, how much butter, a preference for crispy or chewy and, dare I say it, nuts?  Each batch is different.

Directors and Managers need to evaluate their needs and internal resources to create strong and diverse teams.  They must determine who has the skills as well as the passion, motivation and intellectual curiosity to step into litigation support roles.  A lawyer may be the perfect fit for your team, depending on:

·        The culture of your firm;

·        The nature of your clients;

·        The depth and complexity of the matter;

·        The maturity of the department;  and

·        The relationships with IT.

There are many ways to make a chocolate chip cookie.

I like mine chewy.

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With only 5 full months of 2008 on the books, the list of casualties from the slowing economy is growing.  The Department of Labor released statistics Friday revealing that the legal sector lost 1,100 jobs in the month of May.  These figures, when added to the 1,900 losses from April, indicate a volatile job market.

Despite this sharp reduction in workforce, I continue to see solid growth and demand in e-discovery and litigation support across the AmLaw 200. 

 The Cowen Group conducted a quick poll on Monday of litigation support/e-discovery hiring trends among 20 global law firms.  Our poll revealed the following:

•            65% are aggressively hiring litigation support staff.
•            20% are on plan and will continue to staff.
•            15% are cautious and/or scaling back.

These results are precisely what I saw last year at this time. Indicating healthy hiring activity in the litigation support space despite the sluggish economy.

Although several clients acknowledged a decline in business and case loads, they were quick to point out that the increase in size, scope and complexity of cases were keeping their headcounts high.

Several of the firms polled responded that they were adding services and staff to their litigation support practices this year. 

There’s nothing like the DOJ, SEC, FBI and a sub-prime meltdown to give one a sense of job security. 

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The woes of sub-prime mortgage lenders may prove to be another boon to litigation support.

A new study by Navigant Consulting Inc. offers the most detailed statistical portrait of subprime litigation yet. The Chicago-based firm reports that 448 subprime-related cases had been filed in federal court from January 1, 2007, to March 31, 2008. By comparison, the Resolution Trust Corp., which was created to deal with problems spawned by the savings and loan crisis, handled a total of 559 suits from 1989 to 1995.

Subprime litigation has exploded over the past year, with filings skyrocketing during the first quarter of 2008, according to a recent article in Corporate Counsel. The complex, discovery-intensive nature of subprime litigation suits lends itself to litigation support work.  This spike in subprime mortgage litigation is likely to spark a wave of litigation support activity across the nation as litigation support and e-discovery teams gear up to tackle the subprime lending fallout storm.

Lawwave reports that the subprime crisis is also increasing opportunities for litigation support providers abroad.  Any decrease in the practice of offshoring may fuel the need for talented professionals in the United States, taxing an already-shrinking talent pool.

With over 225 open litigation support positions coast-to-coast, the war for talent at all levels continues. 

What the space desperately needs is training for seasoned para-technicals with the desire and intellectual curiosity to step into a new role - Jr. Litigation Support Analyst.

What are your thoughts?

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Litigation support is stepping beyond the sidelines into the limelight. A growing number of law firms are establishing independent litigation support centers to better serve their clients. 

This shake-up, prompted by client demand and an effort to gain a competitive advantage, has led to an increased recruitment of IT and litigation support personnel.

Many firms, like King & Spalding, Sullivan & Cromwell and Sherman & Sterling have made litigation support offerings a key business strategy. Most recently, Howrey announced its litigation support strategy, with a standalone litigation support center in Virginia and plans to open a center in India.

Packaging and marketing their technology services lets firms diversify the menu of options for clients, reduces client costs and creates a revenue-generating side business for the firm. 

Twenty-five of the AmLaw 200 have litigation support departments of 20 or more; 12 have departments that exceed 30. Like IT services, these departments are not so much law firm profit centers as core competencies that a firm must provide to serve its clients. 

Despite the slowing economy, the demand for litigation support talent will remain hot. The litigation support space will continue to ride the roller coaster of double-digit growth as law firms up their technology staff. Hold on for an exciting ride!

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