Right now, it`s a good time to look for legal work in Utah. Legal jobs abound and competition is fierce. Utah is growing rapidly and has caught the attention of several large national/international companies, so you can work for them for money (and hours) or take one of the least obscenely lucrative jobs someone just left that desperately needs to be filled. Seriously, it`s a crazy job market right now in favor of the lawyer/individual. In my eight years of practice, I have never seen it this way. According to the report, 58 legal service providers have taken advantage of the new programs — Utah`s regulatory “sandbox,” launched in August 2020 and approved through 2027, and Arizona`s narrower “alternative business structure,” which went into effect in 2021 and is permanent. Nevertheless, the programs are not without problems. A plaintiff from Utah, Chip Parker, owner of Blue Bee Bankruptcy Law, wanted to give a paralegal a 10% stake in his business in recognition of his contributions and as a retention aid. What makes Utah`s largest city such a magnet for Big Law? Lawyers and analysts pointed not only to an influx of people, tech dollars and business-friendly regulation — key ingredients for most secondary markets — but also respected law schools, innovation in nearby cities and an entrepreneurial culture.
Law firms always keep an eye on the next trendy market, whether they`re looking for cheap prices, business activities, talent, or all of the above. But Salt Lake City stands out right now, attracting ads from top companies Kirkland & Ellis and Foley & Lardner in a month. The last two years have been a steady development. I think we`re better if we can get our lawyers and staff to work remotely – it`s something they find beneficial in their lives. The legal market has changed, and we have had a lot of movement from employees and collaborators. These challenges in hiring and managing these types of changes have been a big change in our business. I feel like our business owner and I have been hiring constantly for nine months. I want to begin by paying tribute to our two law schools here, BYU and the University of Utah.
They do a great job of bringing different candidates to market and different students to schools through their scholarship programs. The trick now is to keep them here. We have this pool of people who could become lawyers. One of the things we do is go all the way to sixth graders. Many of them are interested in law but have never met a lawyer. Last week, I attended a job fair at a charter school that was composed mainly of refugees. Many of these kids came and said, “I`m interested in law, but I don`t know how to be a lawyer.” They were very excited to meet with only one lawyer, so I think that`s the first step. Is it a huge hurdle to have a degree from a non-state law school, not from the region, and not be LDS? Over time to shape my legal education, which places in Utah are saturated with a particular jurisdiction or need a particular area of law? I`ve spent some time looking at ABA maps and seeing that the number of avocados in Utah has increased by 31% over the past decade, do you have any thoughts as to why that would be the case? It`s not a problem in Arizona or Utah, at least not yet. While accounting firms “appear to be well positioned to take advantage of regulatory reforms in the United States.
No one in Utah or Arizona has applied for a permit,” the Stanford report notes, adding that accounting giants “may not consider Utah and Arizona to be large enough legal markets” to warrant a push. In our various markets, we have funded LSAT preparation courses for candidates who may come from an environment where they did not have lawyers in their family. In fact, we have hired people who have participated in this program. It is essential to have diversity and inclusion at the forefront – recognizing that our entire profession depends on our ability to connect with community members and that we need to think about how to treat them. I recently visited my mom in Weber County and really enjoyed my time in Utah. I had hoped that the submarine`s lawyers could share a global picture/overview of the state`s legal markets. A longtime columnist for the legal industry and high-profile litigation, she lives in Northern California. Contact Greene at jenna.greene@thomsonreuters.com “Our experience is that some of the young lawyers who felt they needed to get out of Utah to gain the legal experience they were looking for are now finding those opportunities in Utah,” he said. I think there are many elements of the profession that can only be taught personally. And I think that`s an important part of being a lawyer — learning politeness, learning empathy, and other things that don`t translate well on Zoom.
But I also realize that all these technologies and the ability to use them in ways we`ve never used before have really expanded our reach. Over the next five years, I see that we will play to our strength. Avocados want to enter this market that may never have thought about Utah before. Over the next five years, we will continue to look outward – ways to connect to other markets, collaborate with people in different offices, and communicate with customers both in person and through these remote technologies that give us greater reach. I think what`s driving all this so-called madness is that we have companies from Utah that are doing very well in a global economy and a governor who is doing what it takes to attract business to the state. I am sure I speak for everyone when I say that we are very busy. For this reason, I needed to find a national platform that could support a very growing and diverse practice. I went from about 20 lawyers at Mashoff Brennan to about 65 [at Foley].
It was necessary for me to be able to sleep at night and, most importantly, for my clients to receive the services they needed. That`s why I took the plunge. But I think what drives businesses to come to town is the demand for legal services, and that demand has been increasing for several years. With the legal talent we have here in Utah, I think it was just a natural progression. But the report also highlights the yawning “legal gap” in the provision of legal services, as many people cannot afford legal assistance. The hope is that relaxing legal regulations could increase competition so that a wider range of providers can offer more cost-effective support. We bleed because we are at the bottom of the legal food chain. We have a hard time getting [employees] in through the front door and retaining our leaders. Obviously, our remuneration is determined by the legislator. It`s a multi-session process, and they helped us, but not fast enough. Certainly, we are not trying to compete with you in the private sector, but we are not really competitive with many other counties and municipalities right now. This is a real battle for public sector lawyers, period, and for our firm in particular.
Probably for the first time, Utah lawyers represent many domestic, sometimes global, clients. This raises questions about how we will serve our local customers.