Archer & Greiner lays off 14 lawyers, 27 staffers
After mergers during the past several years that brought its attorney roster from 150 to nearly 210 lawyers, a well-known law firm with longtime roots in New Jersey is retrenching.
Archer & Greiner gave layoff notices last week to 14 attorneys and 27 staff members, the New Jersey Law Journal (reg. req.) reports. Their last day of work will be April 1.
While the firm still hopes to grow further through lateral hires, reduced demand in a changing legal market is requiring the firm to do more with less, since increasing rates was not realistic, said its president, Christopher Gibson. He called the layoffs “the most difficult thing I have done.”
Seven associates and seven nonequity partners got pink slips. They work in offices in Haddonfield, Hackensack, Flemington and Princeton, N.J., as well as Philadelphia. Most of the eight paralegals and 19 secretaries and file clerks are in Haddonfield. The layoffs will bring the ratio of lawyers to secretaries from 2:1 to 4:1, which is now standard, Gibson said.
Redundancies developed, the legal publication says, after Archer & Greiner merged with Herten, Burstein, Sheridan, Cevasco, Bottinelli, Litt & Harz in Hackensack, adding 31 attorneys, and Pelino & Lentz in Philadelphia, adding another 21.
Last updated at 6:44 p.m.
