Layoffs at Ropes & Gray LLP

Boston's Ropes & Gray, which gave their associates bonuses and raises for 2008, is reportedly laying off staff. Close sources at Ropes & Gray say that the firm has laid off 110 people firm wide today. According to my sources, no attorneys were laid off.

This does not stop Ropes & Gray LLP from expanding its New York office.
The New York Observer reports the firm is stretching out its legs in New York, taking a new floor in its 1211 Avenue of the Americas building.

"The law firm activated a provision of its 2005 lease of 250,000 square feet that allows it to take an additional floor in the tower. The lease gives Ropes & Gray the 32nd floor, which the Royal Bank of Scotland recently gave up, in addition to the space it occupies on floors 35 through 40 in the 45-story skyscraper."

Ropes & Gray LLP is a national law firm with offices located in Boston, New York City, Palo Alto, San Francisco, Washington DC, Chicago, Hong Kong and Tokyo; and conference centers in London and Providence, Rhode Island. The firm has over 850 lawyers worldwide. It was founded in 1865 by John Codman Ropes and John Chipman Gray.