More Cuts

Approximately 250 to 300 support and secretarial staff at Hogan & Hartson LLP have been offered buyouts that include four weeks' pay and additional prorated payout if they leave the firm now, the firm confirmed Monday. Hogan & Hartson Chairman J. Warren Gorrell Jr. said that technological advances have decreased the demand for word processing and other secretarial work.


Lovells LLP has become the latest British firm to announce significant layoffs, reportedly saying Monday that it would soon cut up to 94 jobs, including those of 24 lawyers. Lovells has initiated a 30-day redundancy consultation designed to reduce jobs in practice areas most affected by the economic downturn, The Times of London reported.


California-based Luce Forward Hamilton & Scripps LLP has joined numerous other law firms cutting ranks because of the bleak economic climate, saying it would lay off 12 attorneys and 15 members of its administrative support staff.
“The layoffs are due to the current economic condition and primarily impact the transactional practice areas of the firm,” Luce Forward said in a statement Friday.