Sometimes I think Steven Harper and I are in a neck-and-neck race to see who’s more cynical about the legal profession. His Am Law Daily article about the proliferation of non-partnership tracks in big firms strikes an ominous note.

The new positions popping up at big firms (from off-track associates to contract lawyers) are creating an ever-enlarging pool of dead-end, low-paying jobs – what Harper calls “a vast underbelly of lawyers.”