About 200 former Thelen and Heller Ehrman lawyers remain unemployed and face the prospect of pursuing jobs at smaller firms or relocating from major metropolitan areas.

About 130 of Thelen's 400 lawyers continue to associate themselves with the defunct firm, presumably still on the job market, according to recent firm announcements and records from LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell and state bar associations. Another 80 lawyers at the defunct Heller have not found a place to land. Heller had 550 lawyers when it officially dissolved on Sept. 26. Thelen officially dissolved on Dec. 1. Most of the unemployed at both firms are in New York, Washington, D.C., and San Francisco.

Given the economy and a market saturated with other lawyers who have been laid off in the past three months, attorneys from both firms are looking to snag government jobs, start their own firms, join small boutiques or relocate.

"There are opportunities right now to switch gears, to change the equation completely, and that might mean going to a smaller firm, starting your own practice, doing something you really love," rather than attempting to maintain the status quo, said Gary Davis, a legal recruiter at Patterson Davis Consulting in San Francisco.

Heller's unemployed represent about 15 percent of the firm's lawyers. A member of Heller's dissolution committee, who requested anonymity, confirmed that about 300 people, including lawyers and staff, remain on the job market.

About 30 percent of the lawyers at Thelen, which dissolved more recently than did Heller, are on the job market.

"As each month passes, it's getting more and more difficult," said Avis Caravello, a legal recruiter at Avis Caravello Attorney Search Consultants in San Francisco. She said most big firms have finished hiring for the year, and the prospects for the first quarter, and perhaps second quarter, of next year remain bleak. As a result, she has suggested lawyers consider relocating, perhaps to Texas, where firms are hiring for their energy practices.

Other lawyers are joining boutiques.

Dan Appelman, a former partner in the Menlo Park, Calif., office of Heller, said most of his fellow partners and associates landed good jobs, but many associates and, to a greater extent, secretaries, paralegals and case clerks, are "having a very rough time."

In October, Appelman, who specializes in early-stage companies, joined Montgomery & Hansen, a 10-lawyer firm in Menlo Park. He said the firm allows him to offer lower billing rates, which, "in this economic time, this economic environment, would be very attractive to my clients."

Erin Gordon, a former associate in the Menlo Park office of Heller, said most of her colleagues, who focus on emerging companies and venture capital, went to Palo Alto, Calif.-based Cooley Godward Kronish.

But she chose to follow Edward Kim, a former partner in her office with whom she regularly worked, to his new firm, Kim Law Advisors in San Francisco. She said a small firm is more sustainable, given the current economic climate.