In 2005, I published in this column an article with an almost identical title, except that the admonition was aimed at securities lawyers, rather than franchise lawyers. The theme of that article was that the securities practice was starting to dry out. What I did not say was that this was particularly true for lawyers who wanted to have large-firm careers in securities law, rather than those interested in going in-house. I would speculate that overall securities law practice at the AmLaw 200 has not been a prominent growth sector for those law firms since my original article was published. I have only hunches to support this, but I do believe that any betting man or woman would take my side if it came to a wager.
I sense that the demise of private practice securities law has resulted from more and more companies, especially the larger ones, finding it economically more effective to handle securities issues, including additional issuances of stock, 10-K filings, and other '34 Act reporting obligations, through their internal legal departments. Thus, securities law practice has not gone away, but if you want to practice securities law, think of in-house as being your long-term career goal.
