Conn.-Based Firms Defer Start Dates, Trimming Classes & Shut Door on Hiring
Two Connecticut-based national law firms are planning to defer start dates for incoming associates, and some smaller Connecticut firms have gone so far as to eliminate this year’s incoming class.
The “average size” class of new associates at New Haven-based Wiggin and Dana will not start until February, the Connecticut Law Tribune reports. The Tribune reports that Wiggin and Dana will give these associates a stipend, but would not say how much. The firm laid off 14 attorneys in March and 14 staffers in January.
Day Pitney is sporting a “moderately smaller” associate class of 13 nationwide who will not start until January. Day Pitney laid off 20 attorneys in May and 66 staff members in February.
Regional Connecticut firms are also responding to changes in the economy. Levy & Droney in Farmington, Conn., is not taking on any “fledgling lawyers” this year. “With the economy the way that it is, it’s more important to bring in attorneys with a book of business,” managing partner Daniel Kleinman said.
Pullman & Comley, which has four offices in Connecticut and one in New York, is bringing in three attorneys as scheduled in September, but hiring partner Lee Hoffman says he’s “just sending people rejection letters without bothering to save their resumés” because the firm isn’t in a position to bring on any more lawyers.
“The thing that gives me pause is that the resumés coming to me now are superior to my own and these are all people looking for jobs,” Hoffman told the Tribune. “That tells me what’s really going on in the industry.”
