On the job

Legal Services Industry Still Offering
Marketing Job Opportunities

By Russell Lawson

With this article, Marketing the Law Firm launches a regular column on the job market for law firm marketers

Have you been looking for your next job in law firm marketing lately? Or searching for the right candidate to fill your expanding marketing need? In most major metropolitan markets, the inventory of open positions is good. Outside of those markets, some second-tier regional firms are seeking some seasoned help, often in a newly created position, or one that has recently been upgraded in responsibility or salary. In almost every case, the news is good.
While the job market for law firm marketing staff is still robust, it has retreated from the feverish levels of 2000-2001. Nationwide searches for top-level marketing talent continue to offer compensation in the upper five-figure to lower six-figure range, but there are fewer of these jobs open over the last eight months than in a similar period prior to September 11, 2001.
Manager or coordinator level jobs are still being advertised with high frequency, indicating that there is both movement within these positions and that new positions are being created. However, it appears that salary levels in these types of jobs are not undergoing the upward pressure shown in the top level job market.
Despite the trend towards stability in salary levels, the level of expertise that law firms are looking for has continued to advance. Rarely will you now find law firms advertising marketing positions in 'entry-level' language. Most are requiring several years of professional services experience from the start and the senior positions are often specifying a requirement to show experience of over 10 years in law firms.
Where can you find information on these jobs? Locally, most law firms are reliable users of classified advertising to fill positions. Wider searches are generally confined to the Internet, although Legal Marketing Association Chapters will often circulate information about open jobs both inside and outside of the
market. On the Internet, Web sites such as the LawMarketing Portal (www.lawmarketing.com), Monster (www.monster.com) and Flip Dog (www.flipdog.com) recently each showed over 20 active listings for law firm marketing jobs, with only a few duplications.
Clearly it's a good time to be in the job market, whether you're looking for the next step on your career ladder or for the newest addition to your marketing staff. The legal services business has moderate recession resistance, and with this bit of economic stability can take advantage of seasoned marketing talent that may be exiting other professional services markets.

Legal Services Industry Still Offering
Marketing Job Opportunities

By Russell Lawson

With this article, Marketing the Law Firm launches a regular column on the job market for law firm marketers

Have you been looking for your next job in law firm marketing lately? Or searching for the right candidate to fill your expanding marketing need? In most major metropolitan markets, the inventory of open positions is good. Outside of those markets, some second-tier regional firms are seeking some seasoned help, often in a newly created position, or one that has recently been upgraded in responsibility or salary. In almost every case, the news is good.
While the job market for law firm marketing staff is still robust, it has retreated from the feverish levels of 2000-2001. Nationwide searches for top-level marketing talent continue to offer compensation in the upper five-figure to lower six-figure range, but there are fewer of these jobs open over the last eight months than in a similar period prior to September 11, 2001.
Manager or coordinator level jobs are still being advertised with high frequency, indicating that there is both movement within these positions and that new positions are being created. However, it appears that salary levels in these types of jobs are not undergoing the upward pressure shown in the top level job market.
Despite the trend towards stability in salary levels, the level of expertise that law firms are looking for has continued to advance. Rarely will you now find law firms advertising marketing positions in 'entry-level' language. Most are requiring several years of professional services experience from the start and the senior positions are often specifying a requirement to show experience of over 10 years in law firms.
Where can you find information on these jobs? Locally, most law firms are reliable users of classified advertising to fill positions. Wider searches are generally confined to the Internet, although Legal Marketing Association Chapters will often circulate information about open jobs both inside and outside of the
market. On the Internet, Web sites such as the LawMarketing Portal (www.lawmarketing.com), Monster (www.monster.com) and Flip Dog (www.flipdog.com) recently each showed over 20 active listings for law firm marketing jobs, with only a few duplications.
Clearly it's a good time to be in the job market, whether you're looking for the next step on your career ladder or for the newest addition to your marketing staff. The legal services business has moderate recession resistance, and with this bit of economic stability can take advantage of seasoned marketing talent that may be exiting other professional services markets.