Lawyers - Part of the fall out on Wall street

There is a vast ecosystem that surrounds Wall Street - it includes not only places to live, cars and restaurants but also Lawyers. Each firm has its favorites and each senior guy has his team. The lawyers are paid as well as the bankers and work even harder in many cases. They are central to the work at the high end.

As Wall street shrinks - so will the opportunity for high lawyers. 42% of those surveyed are really worried

An increasing number of lawyers are worried that problems on Wall Street will hurt their careers.

Forty-two percent of practicing lawyers responding to a survey through the blog Above the Law said the recent bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers and the sale of Merrill Lynch would harm their careers. Only 27 percent felt that way when the government bailed out Bear Stearns.

The survey, sponsored by legal recruitment firm Lateral Link, got 830 responses. Most of those who answered were associates, the National Law Journal reports.

Law students are particularly concerned about the impact on their careers, with 50 percent of 3Ls, 68 percent of 2Ls and 63 percent of 1Ls feeling fearful, Lateral Link spokesman Aven James told ABAJournal.com in an e-mail. The fear factor is also strong in New York, where 55 percent of the respondents were fearful

The low end - the associates and the near graduation students are very much at risk - they have taken on huge debts in the "certainty" that they would be paid to get through this. Now all they may have are the hours and the debt