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: My husband is a senior associate in a top 3 law firm in Australia. He is a U.S. citizen and registered with the New York Bar. He also passed his Australian Law exam last year. We lived in Asia for 14 years prior to moving to Perth, where he was a partner for a midsized, European-based law firm. He is 45 years old.

Due to family commitments we would like to move back to the U.S. and settle in the New York area. What law firms should my husband be contacting? Thank you.

Dear Moving On: My first suggestion is to reevaluate those family commitments and see if you can work them out by visiting New York frequently rather than moving here at this time.

The reason for this suggestion is due to the fact that it sounds as if your husband has a great job right now; something that you cannot guarantee will be duplicated if you move to New York at this time.

As it is, your husband was a partner in Asia and then, once you moved to Australia, was downsized to an associate level. He is now at the senior associate level, perhaps even being considered for a counsel or partnership opportunity down the road, and at this point in his career, he's thinking about making such a drastic move again? And, of all places, to New York? In such an absurd job market? With no portable business?

I hope the two of you have really thought this through and then thought it through again. I do believe that family should come first no matter what, but in this particular situation, what about your immediate family situation?

I believe it is going to be extremely difficult for your husband to find a job as quickly as I suspect you believe he will find one. Of course, you haven¹t told us much about him. Perhaps he was number one in his class at Harvard Law School and editor-in-chief of the Law Review and clerked for one of the Justices of the Supreme Court early on in this career. And at this time perhaps he is practicing in a very unique and highly sought-after area of the law. And perhaps he has the most amazing contacts at all of the major law firms, e.g., he went to law school with most of the managing partners of the AmLaw 100 law firms.

Unfortunately, I don¹t think any of these speculative ideas hold true or else you wouldn¹t be writing to me for advice as to which law firms he should be contacting for a job.

I don¹t intend for any of this to sound snarky; I just want you to be realistic about the condition of the New York legal job market at this time.

It is difficult for anyone right now. I believe it will be especially difficult for someone with your husband¹s background, as it appears that he does not have any U.S. practice experience, and in fact it's unclear as to whether or not he even has a law degree from a law school in the United States.

If you determine that due to your family situation, you really do need to move to New York right now, your husband needs to do what every other associate is doing: send his resume out to every law firm out there; check the job boards daily; read the legal papers' classified ads and respond to every ad that is applicable; network with anyone and everyone possible; contact your law school¹s career services office, etc., etc., and so forth.

And of course, good luck!

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