Ann Israel is the legal profession's Dear Abby. A New York legal recruiter since 1979, Ann is a past president of the National Association of Legal Search Consultants. Advice for the Lawlorn is updated every week.

Q: I work in a mid-sized firm that has announced that layoffs will start in several months unless business picks up.

If layoffs happen, I would like to try to take an unpaid sabbatical of about six months and then return to the firm once business has improved. Would I be seen as disloyal and thus more likely to be terminated, or would the firm welcome this?

I am in good standing and have received very positive reviews. Thank you.

Dear Welcomed: Huh?

Okay, let me try to wrap my brain around this one. You are in good standing, you have received positive reviews and your firm has not had any layoffs thus far, although it has just announced that there might be layoffs starting in several months if business does not pick up.

And yet, what you intend to do if those layoffs start to happen is volunteer to take an unpaid sabbatical for six months and then, figuring everything will be okay after that, you can just pop right back in to where you were when you left.

Just so I understand what your plans are, what do you want to do during those six months of your sabbatical? Will you be doing some pro bono work? Will you be a teaching assistant at a law school? Will you be clerking for a judge? Or do you plan do swing from a tree on a tropical island?

I am certain that your fellow associates would welcome the fact that you are going to voluntarily leave, as that would probably allow one less person to be cut. However, I truly doubt that the partners in the firm would see this as a good move on your part if you are really as valued as you seem to believe you are. And working as hard as they do, they probably would not be thrilled about you going off for six months on a self-promoted vacation. I doubt that they would welcome you back with open arms six months later. By the way, do you have a crystal ball telling you that the economy will be improved in six months?

Why would you volunteer to take a leave of absence right now if you are not asked to leave the firm? Do you really believe that the partners in the firm love you that much that they will think it is just fine for you to take a six-month vacation and then waltz right back into the firm? Life doesn't work that way.

People are being fired right and left from just about every firm in the country. They are desperate for jobs. They don't want to take voluntary sabbaticals. They want to work. Have you read the on-going blog Notes from the Breadline by Roxana St. Thomas? It's heartbreaking. She can't find a job. And there are literally thousands of attorneys out there in her same situation.

You are so damn lucky -- you are at a law firm that has not experienced any layoffs as yet. Maybe there won't be any but maybe there will be some in the future, your firm is saying. And so you think to yourself, oh, why not take a little vacation and then come back in six months when the economy gets a little rosier.

Unless your father is the main partner in your law firm and makes all the decisions, I suspect that your job will not be sitting there waiting for you if you decide to take a "sabbatical" should your firm decide to start laying off some of your colleagues. My suggestion to you is to hope and pray that your firm's business remains robust and the layoffs never happen. But if they do, pray even harder that you are not one of the associates who is cut because you are not going to be happy when you are asked to take one of those forced "sabbaticals." It is tough out there on the breadline. Work hard and focus. Sabbaticals are for college professors. Getting fired is what happens to associates who have a skewed impression of their worth. Good luck.

Sincerely,
Ann M. Israel
President, Ann Israel & Associates