Number of résumés submitted to Weil, Gotshal skyrockets

John Strasburger (pictured, left), the partner in charge in Houston for Weil, Gotshal & Manges, and Melanie Gray (pictured, right), the 31-lawyer office’s hiring partner, used to get a couple résumés a week from lawyers looking for new positions. Now it’s at least a couple a day, they say. “I can’t remember a time when I’ve seen so many  résumés coming in,” Strasburger says. What’s interesting, Strasburger says, is the quality of the job-seekers. Most are “very talented lawyers at very quality firms,” he says. Strasburger says he started hearing from more job-seekers during the last half of 2008, when the economy started having troubles and some firms started laying off lawyers, but the numbers of associates and partners inquiring about jobs has skyrocketed this month. He may hire a couple. “Right now we are looking at the exceptional person. We’re not looking at going on a crazy hiring spree,” he says.
-- Brenda Sapino Jeffreys