Leaving old firm may have turned out to be a better decision that I realized. As I was heading into the office Friday morning I saw one of the secretaries from old firm crossing the street. I know she takes the train to work, and she wasn't especially close to a station, so I pulled over and offered her a ride.
She let it slip that the firm's big moneymaker case had been stayed due to a bankruptcy--basically bringing all billables to a screeching halt. The firm had hired three associates and two paralegals exclusively for that matter. Everyone who was contract has been canned.
Now, I probably would have been safe, even through this. I did the initial work-up on the moneymaker case, but I was moved off of it fairly early on. Instead, I was very deeply involved with all of the other cases in my practice group. And I was hired before all of those who were working on the moneymaker case. But, still, it is possible that I could have been laid off if another big fish weren't reeled in soon.
Of course, I am "last in" at new firm. So, presumably, if things go south I will be first out. But new firm seems to take major financial decisions--like adding a new associate (I was an expansion, not a replacement)--very seriously, and I don't think they would have made that leap if they weren't confident that they had the business to keep me around. And the current economic climate is actually a bit of a boon to the industry I am working in now.
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