American Lawyer: Rose Corbett on How the Litigation Associate Shortage Is Impacting Partners

With litigation “humming along,” writes American Lawyer reporter Jessie Yount, “associate staffing shortages are creating acute frustration among litigation partners.” It’s a sentiment Rose Corbett, Managing Director with Macrae in New York, has become familiar with. Below, a few of the insights Corbett shared with Yount in the article, Litigators Are ‘Scrambling’ to Staff Cases, Battling Rate, Revenue and Quality Challenges:

Though litigation stumbled in the early months of the pandemic, “the doors opened when COVID subsided and the economy tanked a bit,” said Rose Corbett, a New York-based partner recruiter at Macrae. “We saw a bit of a countercyclical reaction, and litigation went up significantly. Associate support is probably where it hit litigation partners the hardest.”

“There is a scramble to make sure if you’re a partner, you can staff your cases adequately,” she added.

In recent weeks, Corbett said she’s worked with candidates who are “specifically evaluating firms on the basis of the quality and how plentiful associate support is.”

There are “multiple firms going through this,” she added, noting that firms are seeing an influx of their bread-and-butter work–complex commercial litigation, as well as securities litigation. Meanwhile, intellectual property litigation and enforcement work remain robust, she said.

Certainly, shortages aren’t hitting all firms. “As a recruiter, I have to know where the support is,” Corbett said. “That is one of the more active questions. I’m doing my job well if I can steer candidates toward opportunities that can satisfy their associate needs.”

On the other hand, the challenge may come to benefit other firms. “It’s a recruiting tool,” Corbett added. “If you are a firm with a strong litigation bench with great associate support and it’s likely to remain that way, that is a way to attract partners to your firm.”

We encourage you to read the article in full here: Litigators Are ‘Scrambling’ to Staff Cases, Battling Rate, Revenue and Quality Challenges