More bad news for those of you looking for jobs. The Pioneer Press reports that Thomson Reuters is laying off 120 people who work in the legal information division at its Eagan campus. The job cuts include writers, marketers, managers and technology workers in the software part of the business, the PiPress reports.
The company spokesman says the action had more to do with a restructuring that with saving costs, but then goes on to say that the sluggish economy has hurt the legal community, the division’s main customers, and as a result, the company is making adjustments. So take from that what you will.
Thomson Reuters’ legal division (or West, as I will always think of it) has historical been a good source of alternative careers for local law school grads. Got a law degree and not that keen on practicing? Go West, has been the thinking of numerous JDs over the years. However, that pathway appears to be narrowing now too. With many law grads still searching for legally related work, this report is yet another ill omen.
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“ … or West, as I always will think of it.”
Quite understandable to think of it as West, and yet it is precisely Thompson’s famously twitchy corporate finger — always hovering just a few millimeters above the red layoff button — that most distinguishes the “West Brand” segment of the “Legal” subdivision of the “Professional Division” of Thompson Reuters International Megacorporation from the old West Publishing Co. of downtown St. Paul, a locally owned legal publisher that never laid off a single person throughout its history, which included the Great Depression.
I am deeply depressed when I read posts like this one. Its essentially impossible to get part time jobs once you get a JD, as you pointed out in another thread. I really hate myself for attending law school
It’s definitely a tough time to be a new law school grad ’09, and I feel for you. I caught an interview with Malcolm Gladwell on cable yesterday, and he was talking about how people don’t want to acknowledge how much random chance plays a part in things like their career (e.g. graduating in the right or wrong year). On the other hand, stresses of career can overwhelm you from seeing those good things you do have (e.g. youth and good health) that many an ancient senior partner would be happy to trade their yachts and country-club memberships for. But I don’t want to get all Panglossian on you either. Looking for work now is a tough road to hoe right now — particularly for JDs.
Who Am Us brings up an interesting point — there’s the old family-owned West, West II (Thomson West) and now West III (the West Division of Thomson Reuters).