The Black Sheep Opens as a Major Review Ends

Today I heard some bad news for Philadelphia Contract Attorneys. Those of you out there who are looking for work, it just got a little harder. A major document review (Dechert) is ending which will flood the market with document review attorneys. This review has laid off some amount of its attorneys, how many is unclear at this point. It could be anywhere from 40-100 with more layoffs expected in the coming weeks. Why you may ask, the same old reason: settlement=cutbacks.

But look at the bright side, the Black Sheep has opened its blog.

As far as what this blog is and what it is intended for that will be some what reader driven; however, here is what I hope for:

I think that the world of legal contracting needs to change. Now more then ever. I see this blog as a way to get a discussion going of what changes need to be made, and a way to allow individuals to improve their individual circumstances as contractors.

1. I want to give people a place to vent their frustrations in a constructive manner.
2. I want to try to help people build something out of their contract experiences, and ultimately figure out what they want to do.
3. I want to try to improve the contracting industry so that I and other people like me are not so unhappy with their positions or their future possibilities.
4. I want to try and track various data that will allow people to make informed decisions about moves in and out of various contract positions.
5. I want to make the recruiters more accountable to the talent pool from which they are drawing.
6. I want to make contracting a viable alternate career path by showing the firms that good things can come out of contractors.

I am going to put in place certain rules. I would like the site to be self policing, but as a blog there are limits to that. I will attempt to police the blog myself to the extent that I am allowed. I want to make this a fair discussion of temporary and contract employment.

I do not want this blog to sound like a bunch of malcontented 5^th graders, I want constructive comments. If you just want to insult people find another blog or start your own. Some other blogs such as http://temporaryattorney.blogspot.com/2007_11_01_archive.html are much harder on the industry of temporary and contract work then I am. Please consider how you sound before posting as insults and truly negative comments diminish all of us and the message that we are trying to get out.

Please do not make me delete comments, or decide to delete the Blog.

Also something that I have noticed on the above site is that posters wish to only post anonymously. While I believe that any and all of you should maintain your anonymity, I would like you to at least create an alias for a posting so that over time your comments and advice can be given the weight that they deserve. However, please keep in mind that you should be careful exactly what you say as anything that might identify you as an individual could also subject you to being blacklisted by contract firms.

As to the inevitable posts by Contract Firms, Law Firms, and Major Clients please be open to hearing what they have to say. In order for things to improve at your job site and in the industry, they need to understand the problems and issues.

I will soon post and describe these rules and other rules in the sidebar so that all can read when they view the site.

Thanks,

The Black Sheep