More and More Changes in the Legal Field

The London branch of Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC is reportedly merging with recently formed claimants litigation firm Hausfeld LLP, which Michael Hausfeld started after his ousting from Cohen Milstein in November. The merger will be official later this month and will mark Hausfeld's foray into the international legal scene.

King & Spalding LLP has boosted its intellectual property practice with a three-partner team from Baker Botts LLP, including the former co-chair of the firm's international patent practice group. The group consists of Bruce W. Slayden II, who served as the co-chair of Baker Botts’ international patent practice group and as head of its intellectual property department.

As the worldwide economic crisis continues, DLA Piper has launched a formal layoff consultation that will likely eliminate 140 jobs in its United Kingdom offices. Nixon Peabody LLP, meanwhile, has decided to axe 20 attorneys and cut 36 other staff positions. The firms each released statements on the layoffs on Tuesday, couching the cuts as necessary to survive amid a relentless economic downturn.

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Unemployed Lawyers

Apparently the auto and bank industries are not the only ones to be hit by the financial meltdown and the jobless tsunami that followed. Law firms have been struggling for some time and now as the economy worsens, the number of unemployed lawyers nationwide has substantially increased.

Rumor has it that Ropes & Gray LLP is not going to give salary increases this December, however, bonuses are still forthcoming. Thacher Proffitt & Wood LLP has reportedly reached out to King & Spalding LLP about the possibility of taking over the struggling firm in order to avoid dissolution. Legal Times has reported that King & Spalding may take over approximately 100 of Thacher's 195 lawyers, but that it's not yet clear which practices and offices the 100 lawyers would come from. A New York legal consultant has said that "There's a tremendous amount of uncertainty about who's going to be invited to the party."

Howrey LLP has let go of approximately 10 associates. The firm said in a statement on Thursday that these were not layoffs but “outplacements.”

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