$80,000 for a Year Off?

Mixed feelings today re NY Times article here. Would love to know how the attorneys feels about this.

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More Layoffs

According to Law360, layoffs in the legal industry continued to mount Tuesday, with rumors swirling of fresh rounds of firings at Paul Hastings Janofsky & Walker LLP, Venable LLP, Chadbourne & Parke LLP and Blank Rome LLP. The deepest cuts were made at Paul Hastings, which reduced its work force in the United States by a whopping 131, including 44 associates and 87 staff.

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Want to keep track of the layoffs?

Check out the Vault Layoffs Tracker here.

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The Layoff List

As I searched the internet on the news of more layoffs, specifically at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP, I came across a compilation of this information in one place. Keep on top off all the layoffs, here.

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Bloody Thursday: Major Law Firms Ax Attorneys and Staff

In the single ugliest day for the legal industry since the economic downturn began, eight major firms announced a total of 748 layoffs Thursday, including 320 lawyers and 428 staff members.
The eight firms that announced staff cuts were Holland & Knight LLP, DLA Piper, Bryan Cave LLP, Goodwin Procter LLP, Epstein Becker & Green, PC, Faegre & Benson LLP, Dechert, and Nixon Peabody. Read more here.

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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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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.

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Ropes Chairman R. Bradford Malts' e-mail to the firm

From: Malt, R. Bradford
Sent: Thursday, January 29, 2009 4:41 PM
To: All Active Personnel
Subject: Reduction in Force

In October I wrote to you about the strength of our firm in the face of changing economic circumstances. I also said that our strength does not render us immune to what is happening in the broader economy. Our clients and marketplace have been seriously affected by the continuing global economic downturn, and the recession is now widely seen as the most serious since the 1930s.

Ropes & Gray continues to be sound, and we are grateful for the competitive advantages afforded by our talented attorneys and staff, and our diversified practices and client base. At the same time, we are cognizant of changing dynamics in our economic landscape and the need to align our staffing with the firm’s needs and outlook.

As a result, we have reluctantly decided to eliminate 106 staff positions across all departments in the firm, or 10% of non-lawyer staff. While I know this is painful news, I felt it was important to share with all personnel as soon as appropriate.

Our decision to undertake this reduction in workforce was not made lightly. We value our workforce as an integral part of our client service mission, and as a part of the extraordinary community of people that make Ropes & Gray what it is. Unfortunately, the changed external environment required us to make hard choices that could be avoided in more robust economic times.

We reached this difficult decision only after a thorough analysis of all possible areas for prudent cost reduction. We determined that, in addition to significant cuts in non-personnel expenditures that have been made or are forthcoming, it was necessary to reduce our staff numbers. These expense cuts and reductions in force represent an acceleration of our ongoing effort to provide clients with the most cost-effective, value added legal services possible. The bulk of the reductions occurred in the Boston and New York offices; Palo Alto and D.C. also experienced some reductions.

Affected employees were informed this afternoon and provided with severance benefits and outplacement counseling. The firm appreciates the contributions made by all affected employees, and we are working with them to ease their transition.

With today’s actions, we believe we have fully taken the necessary personnel steps to address current economic circumstances. We do not anticipate making any further non-lawyer or lawyer reductions in force.

Next week, the Policy Committee will begin annual State of the Firm presentations to associates, and meetings are being scheduled to address the same topic with our staff. At these forums, we are happy to address questions about these topics or any other issue that may be of concern to you.

While this is a difficult time, we continue to be well positioned to capitalize on opportunities that will arise from the current environment. I encourage all of us – staff and lawyers alike – to focus on the priorities that will help the firm continue to grow and provide the best client service anywhere. I thank all of you for your continuing hard work and commitment.

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Linklaters LLP

Linklaters LLP, the second-largest London law firm by revenue, is reportedly preparing to slash its associate work force and let go as many as 70 partners, as the Magic Circle firm tries to restructure operations amid the global financial crisis. Sarah Peters, a firm spokeswoman said "the worsening economic crisis and its effects on key clients means that reductions are necessary"

On Friday, Legal Week reported that Linklaters will reconstitute the staff by first saying goodbye to an estimated 35 partners worldwide, with other reports claiming that the number could be much higher. The Lawyer magazine reported on January 23, 2009 that Linklaters will cut as many as 70 partners and 10 percent of its salaried lawyers, citing people familiar with the plan.

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Troubled Law Firms

Marc Dreier, litigator, founder and managing partner of a prominent law firm, Dreier LLP, was arrested on fraud charges for allegedly swindling two top hedge funds of what a U.S. prosecutor now estimates to be $380 million. Prosecutor Jonathan Streeter called Dreier a "Houdini of impersonation." Firm attorneys said in court papers that Dreier spent as much as $40 million on artwork to decorate Dreier LLP’s offices in New York and five other cities. In light of these news, "the court-appointed receiver, Mark Pomerantz, a partner with Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP, warned remaining attorneys not to expect any more paychecks." This began the collapse of the once lucrative practice and forced majority of the lawyers to move on.

New York Times reported that people left at the firm have said that the firm "could not make its payroll, the Christmas party at the Waldorf-Astoria was canceled and the firm lacked the ability to pay the rent at its Park Avenue offices."

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Philadelphia-based law firm, Wolf Block LLP, has reportedly let go 15 associates and staff members last week. The layoffs were first reported by an online blog Above the Law. According to Above the Law, the reductions were based on firm finances and not performance.

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