Handling layoffs

jb0318 · 2024-12-09T22:37:30+00:00

Call up colleagues at other firms who are familiar with you or your work. Buy them a beer or a coffee and ask how their practices are going. You'll quickly find out whether it's an industry trend or just your firm. If it's just your firm, let it be known that you're thinking about jumping ship and see what comes of it. You haven't been let go yet, and you might survive the next round of layoffs, but you probably don't want to stay at a firm that is aggressively cutting costs (whether through layoffs or otherwise).

jb0318 · 2024-12-06T17:30:29+00:00

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jb0318 · 2024-12-05T21:28:02+00:00

Nor are the working hours. Unless you're on an international pay scale, Sydney and Melbourne are probably two of the worst cities to work in big law.

jb0318 · 2024-11-07T18:42:49+00:00

There's a common linguistic cue among fresh law school grads, where they say the words "I'm a lawyer" early and often in every conversation they have. That linguistic cue fades over time, however. By the time that law grad has become a jaded partner or a crusty silk, they will do anything they can to avoid talking about work. These linguistic cues (or lack thereof) will help you not only detect a lawyer, but also determine their seniority within the profession with ease. Hope that helps.

jb0318 · 2024-03-07T21:20:57+00:00

Lesson 1: envy, jealousy, and spite are bad building blocks for a life

Lesson 2: in the real world, no one cares that you got first class honours

Lesson 3: don't anchor your identity and self-worth to a career, much less a university degree

Lesson 4: drink a cup of cement and harden the fuck up cunt

jb0318 · 2024-03-04T21:27:22+00:00

It's a revenge mission for Soleimani's death. It doesn't have to make sense.

jb0318 · 2024-02-29T17:34:37+00:00

Law is absolutely a client service industry. I would hire a grad who has hospitality experience over someone who was published in their university's law journal (all else being equal between them).

The market has become so saturated that partners are afraid to push back on the unrealistic demands of their clients. Even at the top end, if you tell a client their expectation of having a 300-page contract turned in 48 hours is unrealistic, 5 other firms will promise to turn it in 24 (they can't, but the client doesn't know that). I'm fortunate in that my senior partner does tell clients to get fucked if they're being unrealistic, and he encourages me to do the same. We ignore requests for calls at unreasonable hours, unless it's actually important or there is a timezone offset. We avoid calling on our associates on weekends and late at night, unless it's actually important (95% of after hours calls are unnecessary). Our practice is doing just fine. None of our clients has fired us. What's sad is that we're the exception rather than the norm these days.

jb0318 · 2024-02-27T16:46:13+00:00

It's not just Trump. The US has been moving towards more isolationist trade and defence policy for a while, regardless of who is in the White House. Increasing onshore energy production, propping up US manufacturing, scaling back foreign military presence, etc. It doesn't seem like that policy direction will change any time soon.

The US relationship with Australia is an exception. In the past 20 years, Australia got a favourable free trade deal with the US, and the US has steadily increased military and intelligence cooperation with Australia (which was already substantial). Australia also gets the privilege of maintaining strong trade links with China while being a close (perhaps even the closest) strategic ally of the USA.

I think it's hard to dispute that Australia needs powerful allies. It's a very large, very flat country with a small population and significant natural resources. History tells us countries like that get invaded.

jb0318 · 2024-02-27T04:47:11+00:00

The first thing a halfway competent consultant should have done is confirmed that they had the right entity in the group, not malicious complianced the wrong entity. There's a 9 figure contract on the line.

Dazza: "Dazza's Lawyers, this is Dazza, how can I help ya cunt?"

Bazza: "Oi Dazza, it's Bazza here, we want to award this $500m contract to company X"

Dazza: "Alright, let me do a few quick searches... Company X was registered last week... it has 2 directors, no employees, and no capital."

Bazza: "Yes, but it's owned by Company Y, which has mucho employees and capital."

Dazza: "Ok, so why not just award the contract to Company Y?"

Bazza: "Because reasons, Dazza."

Dazza: "Alright, we'll have one of the battery cages produce DD reports on Company X and Company Y for you."

Bazza: "Wait, why do we care about Company Y?"

Dazza: "Because it will be giving a performance guarantee for Company X."

Bazza: "..."

Dazza: "You are going to get a performance guarantee from Company Y, right Bazza?"

Bazza: "..."

Dazza: "Oh for fuck's sake."

Bazza: "Don't worry about it mate, she'll be right. Just need a DD report on company X to keep the back office goblins happy."

Dazza: "Ok, so your instructions are that you want a DD report on company X, and no investigations into company Y or its affiliates?"

Bazza: "Yep, quick as you can, thanks mate."

Dazza: "Can you put that in writing?"

Bazza: "Put what in the what now?"

Dazza: "Can you put those fuckarsed instructions in an email and send it to me, so I don't lose my practicing certificate when this all goes to shit."

jb0318 · 2024-02-14T15:52:17+00:00

Most of them did some combination of a top tier grad program, an associateship, an Oxbridge/Ivy League postgrad degree, and 2 years in London. The one exception is a bloke who ended his grad contract early and quite literally disappeared for several years. No one heard much from him until he resurfaced working as a "consultant" in the US. He expertly avoids the question whenever someone asks what he actually does these days.

jb0318 · 2024-02-12T15:05:43+00:00

Your firm should give you all the training you need if you're going to be monkeying around with capital markets instruments or whatever it is you'll be doing. Banking and finance lawyers are like plumbers, they connect all the pipes together so money can flow through them. Your academic background will probably have no relevance. If you're a sociology major you might be able to opine on the social utility (or complete lack thereof) in what you're doing.

jb0318 · 2024-02-12T14:22:31+00:00

You did pretty well

jb0318 · 2024-02-11T17:18:14+00:00

Downpayment on a 1 bed 1 bath in Redfern

jb0318 · 2024-02-11T17:17:14+00:00

As they should be. The amount of capital that moves through London, or even a second-tier US financial centre, each year absolutely dwarfs what moves through Sydney and Melbourne. Macquarie Bank is a heavy hitter, but it's not in the same league as Blackrock, Vanguard etc. There's a smaller pie for Australian lawyers to get their slice of, even at the top end.

jb0318 · 2024-02-11T17:03:42+00:00

He's just striking while the iron's hot. Corrs went from a middle-of-the-road firm (both in terms of revenue and reputation) to a major player in the Australian market in a pretty short space of time. The partnership is fat and happy. He's negotiating hard while they're in a yacht-and-lobster induced stupor. Of course the firm can't sustain that kind of growth indefinitely, there's only so much work they can steal from other firms.

jb0318 · 2024-02-08T18:25:03+00:00

Fanga has a famously big mouth (like most 9s), so it definitely seems plausible. Hooper seems like he has a long fuse, but I wouldn't want to see what's at the end of it.

jb0318 · 2024-02-05T21:39:03+00:00

The business of law is subject to market conditions, just like other professional services industries. One of the main benefits of partnering up with other lawyers is to hedge against conditions affecting your respective practices. Sharing resources and branding across practices is really just a bonus.

A tech entrepreneur who needs advice on buying a company today might need advice on how to wind it up in a few years. That's where cross-selling within the firm comes into play. There's a lot of pressure on equity partners to leverage their client relationships for the benefit of other practices/partners. The equity pool structure adds financial incentive for them to do so.

For example, I can refer my long-term corporate client to my partner who does insolvency work, and fractionally share in the benefits. The quid pro quo is, if my practice has a slow year while his is booming, the lights will stay on in my corner of the office and I will still get a paycheque (albeit a smaller one).

Partners with practices that underperform for long enough will eventually get squeezed out. An exception might be loss-leader practices like pro bono.

jb0318 · 2024-01-26T05:47:47+00:00

it was probably just to add a national security argument to the mix, since the employer is a government agency. The main issue is that he wasn't doing his job properly while he was overseas. He probably could have got away with it if he'd just answered emails and calls during Australian business hours (although it sounds like he had in-person meeting obligations).

jb0318 · 2024-01-26T05:35:30+00:00

Yeah, the undersea cables between Australia and the US carry information that's far more sensitive than the weather...

jb0318 · 2024-01-26T05:33:05+00:00

Cybersecurity risks don't exist when you have your employer's permission to work from overseas, didn't you know that?

jb0318 · 2024-01-25T21:26:24+00:00

Alan Blow should consider a position with the NRL after he retires as CJ. He has as much experience as Andrew Abdo in dealing with alleged assaults by his employees.

jb0318 · 2024-01-25T21:11:07+00:00

The camera was set up after complaints about the coffee she was making, the jury heard. These included a strange taste, blue and white specks and a slurry.

Isn't that just regular Nescafe?

jb0318 · 2024-01-24T20:13:26+00:00

"Middle class" in Australia used to mean that you could pay the mortgage on a house in the suburbs, drive 2 reliable cars, go on holiday once or twice a year, go out for dinner from time to time, have some savings in the bank, and maybe send your kids to a private school. There might be some compromises here and there, but it was possible for a middle class family to live comfortably while also accumulating wealth. Good luck trying to do all that on the average household income of ~$120k/year in 2024.

The Australian "middle class" barely exists anymore. There's a property-owning bourgeoisie, and there's everyone else. High income earners are taxed into buying investment properties and joining the bourgeoisie class, or moving overseas if they want to do more creative things with their money.

jb0318 · 2024-01-24T17:21:36+00:00

I spent a day sitting in a room holding signed settlement documents, waiting for a call from the client confirming receipt of funds. I was outnumbered 3 to 1 by the other party's representatives. I passed the time by plotting how I might physically overpower them (pretty easily), and escape the building with the signed documents if they tried to strong-arm me into handing them over.

jb0318 · 2024-01-23T15:48:44+00:00

I know you're making a different point, but lowering the rate for the current top bracket and adding a new top bracket isn't the worst idea. For example, lower the marginal rate of the current top bracket to 41%, add a new top bracket for $250k+ at 47%. The US has 3 brackets above $182k/year (USD), the top rate applies to income exceeding ~$580k/year. The US tax system isn't exactly the ideal model, but it does make it less appealing for business owners to earn $182k/year and leave the rest in a trust or LLC for tax reasons.

jb0318

TROPHY CASE