You Got Laid Off at Big Law - Really, You Don't Have to Get Frozen in Time

Despair is the default mindset for most of those cut loose from Big Law. 

During the meeting with Human Resources and a partner, the lucrative compensation, prestige and crack at stimulating assignments went poof - at least for the time being. Too often those axed remain emotionally stuck for too long or even until they retire or die. Continually they replay what they could have, should have done.

The bad news is that you are likely to do that. Humans tend to be wired that way.



The good news from the Tarot is that you don't have to get stuck in a time warp. Immediately you can parachute into strategies of how to extract what's marketable from that experience and get out there and sell it. For example, no one can take away from you that you have Big Law experience. Inventory your skills. Study help-wanted ads to connect the dots on what is needed and what language you can use to align your unique experience with that. 

The ethos of the mystical Tarot is inherently optimistic. The New York Times provides detailed instructions on how you can read the Tarot cards for a DIY.

Why you might not instantly take that leap into possibility is that, when in a setback, humans tend to focus primarily on the headwinds. They ignore the tailwinds which they can harness to give them an edge. In his 2023 bestseller "Anatomy of a Breakthrough," Adam Alter hammers:

" ... we pay far more attention to our barriers (or headwinds) than our blessings (tailwinds) which lead us to believe we face more opposition than we actually do."

Alter's book is about how to get unstuck. All humans will, he documents, get stuck at one or more times. Perhaps our first encounter with stuckness is resisting the rite of passage from college to having to earn a living.

You bet, the tailwind concept can be mighty useful. You can dig into that line of thought more by studying the research of S. Davidai and T. Gilovich. One source is the article "The Headwinds/Tailwinds Asymmetry" in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 111 (2016).

Among those in Big Law the most tailwinds-oriented lawyer I have gotten to know is long-term Paul Weiss chair Brad Karp. The partners voted him in during the crushing global downturn of 2008. Yet, he had confidence demand would bounce back. Unlike so many other law-firm leaders, Karp didn't lay off junior lawyers. During Covid he racked up record Profit Per Equity Partner. Despite the current falloff in law-firm demand he is hiring, not laying off. That includes poaching top talent from other firms. In SuperLawyers, Karp himself best sums up his refusal to become stuck:

"In difficult matters, I will think about my clients' problems ... until a solution emerges."

Seizing the momentum of tailwinds is not toxic positivity. It's the standard recovery formula for lawyers who got knocked out of the box in 2001, 2008-2009, and currently. I have been honored to coach a number of them.

Data or the gut for your careers and communications? Both of course. Complimentary consultation with intuitive coach, content-creator, and Tarot reader Jane Genova (text 202-468-8579, janegenova374@gmail.com).


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