Lawyers not safe from tough times
If a recession can be said to have a front line, lawyers are often there doing battle.
But lawyers themselves have been caught in the crossfire, and that has affected clients and potential clients who expect the legal profession, like the medical profession, to emerge from recessions unscathed.
Rochester-area lawyers, especially the increasing number who are in a solo practice or part of a small firm, have found it hard on occasion to adjust to a shifting landscape. Large law firms, in contrast, say they have kept their footing.
Firms that do a lot of real estate transactions obviously saw a downturn when the market slowed dramatically over the past two years. Many moved to legal work more attuned to the times — representing debtors and creditors, working with banks on distressed properties, helping nursing homes collect from private payers.
And billing practices have changed, as well. “I try to get as much upfront as I can,” said Rochester attorney John Wieser. He said he has reduced his staff to adjust to hard times and has noticed that, while inquiries to his office haven’t fallen off, the number of people who call back to retain him has.
“They find out how much it is and don’t come back,” Wieser said, adding that people seem to be turning more to do-it-yourself legal sites on the Web.
The concern about a growing number of lawyers serving fewer, financially stressed clients has led the Monroe County Bar Association to schedule a series of seminars next year to help lawyers develop a practice that works over the long term.
“We had lawyers in this town running into trouble with the IRS at tax time because of planning issues,” said Mary Jo Korona, an attorney with Leclair Korona Giordano Cole LLP in Rochester who also chairs the county bar’s law practice management section. “There are more and more young lawyers hanging out their shingles, and these sessions will help them with budgeting and bookkeeping.”
Korona said being a lawyer in this region poses challenges. “With businesses and people leaving, it’s tougher in this geographic area to find clients who are productive. But it can be done if there’s planning.”
Businesses that in the past may have been more conciliatory about missed payments and delays are now more inclined to press for legal remedies.
Terrence Brown-Steiner, an East Rochester attorney, said the local nursing homes he represents are suing families more readily now for money the law requires they provide before the Medicaid entitlement kicks in.
“Changes in the law in 2006 aimed at deficit reduction mean nursing homes have to wait longer for Medicaid,” Brown-Steiner said. “They may have been willing to wait before. Now they’re taking action.”
Lawyers are finding some success representing fired workers in age-discrimination suits. “I’m seeing more and more executives over the age of 40 making $50,000 or $60,000 replaced by younger people,” said Rochester attorney Christina Agola.
Those serving low-income clients in housing, personal finance, bankruptcy and tenant-landlord matters are more in demand. Empire Justice Center, which provides legal aid, said the need has grown even as government financial support has declined.
“We’re turning people away,” said Anne Erickson, president and CEO of the center. “New York state does an abysmal job in legal services, and right now we’re looking at a 14 percent mid-year cut.
“If that happens, we may have to lay people off. The people we serve are on the economic margins. Right now we’re doing triage, taking the most desperate cases. Others we can’t help.”
