Civil Litigation Law Firms
civil litigation law firms
The Coffman Law Firm Announces New Website
Commercial litigation refers to any type of litigation or dispute related to business issues. Contract disputes and breach of contract cases are covered under this type of law. Also covered under commercial and business litigation are shareholder disputes, employment disputes, antitrust and trade actions, and debt collection actions. Whether you are the defendant or the plaintiff, you will need a lawyer to help you settle any of these types of cases in court.
The website, http://www.cofflaw.com, has information about each of their practice areas, however, they do not represent insurance companies or securities brokerage firms. You can learn more about antitrust litigation, such as price fixing, price discrimination, and monopolization. They also practice family law. The attorneys page allows you to read about Richard Coffman and Sonya Coffman, and their credentials. Once you are confident that Sonya and Richard are qualified to handle your case, you can contact them to by filling out a simple form or by reaching them directly with the help of a map and directions.
Richard L. Coffman was a CPA for several years before he received his law degree from the University of Texas in 1989. He is a member of the State Bar of Texas, the Federal Circuit Bar Association and the American Association for Justice. He received his BA with highest honors in 1978 from Texas Lutheran University. Sonya B. Coffman’s expertise lies in family law, personal injury, toxic tort, professional malpractice, and business cases. She graduated Summa Cum Laude in 1976 from the University of Memphis with a B.B.A. She received her law degree with honors in 1989 from the University of Texas. Both attorneys are committed to providing you with the best legal representation possible.
How competitive is the job markets for new law gradutes?
The reason I ask is because a friend of mine graduated a couple of months ago from a decent law school, but he still has not found a job. Also, he told me he was not on the top 10 percent of his class, and according to him, it’s what law firms look for. In other words, the top ones. Futhermore, he says that his changes could have been higher if he had gone to an ivy league school. From what I understand, he wants to work in the private sector…I believe civil litigation…according to him that’s where the money is. I ask him about the public sector but he has no interest in it….why is that? He didn’t really tell me
The job market for entry level lawyers in the United States has always been very competitive for the past several decades because law schools generate a disproportionately large number of new lawyers each year than are needed by employers for new lawyers. That pretty much guarantees that a lot of new lawyers are not going to be employed after graduation even in a robust and healthy economy unless they become self-employed (but U.S. law schools for the most part do not provide the practical education and knowledge for them to do so).
In the current recession it is exponentially worse. The job market for new lawyers as well as experienced lawyers has decreased significantly due to the collapse of the economy. Established large law firms have dissolved, and many have had mass layoffs of lawyers, rescinded job offers to 2009 law school graduates, deferred start dates for 2009 law school graduates where they have not been rescinded, and have informed law schools that they will not be hiring law school graduates from the class of 2010. Government agencies and public interest organizations have also reduced or frozen hiring of law school graduates due to budget cuts and losses in funding.
Contract attorney jobs (temporary assignments from law firms that pay by the hour) have also suffered losses due to legal outsourcing overseas, and many, if not most of the existing contract attorney jobs have suffered significant reductions in rates (down from $40 per hour for standard document review projects to as low as $20 an hour)
Public sector jobs generally have low starting salaries and low salary ceilings compared to a successful private practice. A typical public sector job can pay as low as less than $30k starting salary and rarely goes higher than $50k. Most of them cap at below $100k unless they are leadership positions such as an officer of a legal defense fund or bureau chief in a District Attorney or Attorney General’s office and there are very limited opportunities to advance to such positions.
In contrast, the private sector offers salaries at the high end of well over $100k plus bonuses and even the lower paying ones that don’t pay more than public sector jobs offer the possibility of an eventual six figure income if the lawyer eventually becomes a partner in the firm and/or develops his or her own book of clients.
The job market for private sector jobs that pay six figures to law school graduates is extremely competitive. In a healthy economy, top big law firms that paid $160k generally recruited out off the top 20% of the top 14 law schools and in some cases the top 5-10% of other tier 1 law schools (top 100 law schools as ranked by US News & World Report). In the current economy, these firms have become even more selective, and many who used to are no longer looking far beyond the top 14 law schools. Additionally most of them are offering lower starting salaries as well. On top of that, less prestigious law firms that offered lower six figure salaries and recruited from a broader demographic have also narrowed their recruiting profile to fill in that gap, and have cut starting salaries.
Law school graduates usually receive job offers well in advance of graduation. Your friend is not going to secure a job offer from any of the big law firms. 4 years ago, if he was from a tier 1 law school and in the top half of his class, it might have been possible, if difficult, for him to secure an associate position in a law firm that pays $70-$100k, but in this economy, he will be extremely lucky if he gets a job offer from any firm that offers a starting salary over $50k.
