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: Is it easier to find a job in a law firm if one's last job ended voluntarily or involuntarily? My current firm was already having financial problems, and layoffs were already looming, before a rainmaker, in a different practice area than mine, recently announced her departure.

As layoffs look likely, and as I am already exhausted from months of overwork, from the perspective of finding a new job, is it best to quit and take time off or be cut? Thank you.

Dear Exhausted: Are you thinking about taking a little vacation? Maybe you'd like to spend a few weeks in St. Barts, sipping some island drinks and taking in the tropical sunshine? Since you are so exhausted from months of overwork, you poor darling, you really do owe it to yourself to pamper yourself with a nice little holiday.

After all, what's the diff? You'll come back and have a few interviews and then decide which offer to accept and then start the new job with a nice tan and ... oh, wait -- I forgot ... there's a problem, isn't there? Something about a shortage of law firm jobs out there in New York?

Sorry to be so sarcastic but after all, is your question for real? You ask if it is easier to find a law firm job if you've quit and taken a vacation or if you've been laid off. Are you kidding me? Do you listen to the news? Do you read the newspapers? Do you have any friends at other law firms? Do you have any idea as to what is going on in the legal community?

I find it impossible to believe that your question is anything but a lame attempt at a joke. Here we are at what we are hoping is the beginning of the end of the recession. Thousands of associates have been axed from their law firms and can't find jobs. They are sitting on law school loans and apartment and home mortgages, along with many other debts, and have no idea where their next dollar is going to come from. And let us not forget about all of those 2L and 3L law school students who are looking at being deferred from their law firm start dates.

All of these people are on their knees, praying that they could be exhausted from months of overwork at a law firm -- the exact situation about which you are complaining.

Now you write to us from a firm that has not had layoffs as yet, from a department that has you working overtime, and you think there may be layoffs because one partner has announced her departure. And I must stress the fact that this partner is not even from your very busy practice group. Why would you be part of the layoffs if you are billing so many late hours?

To answer your question -- in case you are incapable of answering the obvious -- yes, it is easier to find a job if one's job ended involuntarily due to an economic layoff, not because one quit and took some time off, especially in times such as the ones we are currently experiencing. I can assure you that partners will not look kindly upon someone who decides s/he is simply exhausted and instead of possibly being laid off down the road, just decides to quit and take some time off to chill.

If I sound angry, yes, I suppose I am. I sit in my office day after day, month after month, taking phone calls from attorneys who, through no fault of their own are out of work because of this economy. They would give anything to be exhausted from overwork, to have any work at all right now.

You have no idea how fortunate you are to have this job. Wake up, because if your attitude continues, you won't have to worry about how exhausted you are feeling ... your partners are going to hand you a pink slip allowing you to take a nice, long vacation -- except I don't think you will be rocking in a hammock in the tropics if that boot comes swinging your way.

The time to take a vacation is when one is due to you at your current firm or when you have interviewed for a new job, received an offer, accepted it, given notice, left the old job and it is two weeks before you start working for your new employer. In the meantime, I hope you stay at your current firm and that no layoffs occur there.

Someday, long after we return to a strong economy and you have stopped swearing at me, perhaps you will understand what I was trying to say to you in this column. Best wishes.

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