Mar 26, 2009
Firm postpones start dates for a year
By: Caryn Tamber
Ballard Spahr is the latest firm to delay first-year associates’ start dates. The incoming class will now start in September of 2010. No, that’s not a typo. Yes, the associates will have to wait a whole year.
The firm will pay them each a $45,000 stipend “if they find legal work in the meantime that provides public service or enhances their professional development.”
Ballard Spahr is based in Philadelphia but has 49 lawyers in Maryland.
Another firm with a major Maryland presence, Venable, announced earlier this month that its own first-years would start in January 2010.
Once again (yawn) , what you consider news is pathetic. The economy stinks. Who doesn’t know that ? You and your ilk just love to fan the flames of doom and gloom and try to portray even the mundane as a disaster. Our legal community is suffering just like all sectors of the economy. We don’t need your constant reminders of how bad it is out here. By the way, housing starts are up, home sales are up and commercial deals are starting to happen again. The firm that you are writing about is at the forefront of these developments but we will never hear it from you .