Powell Goldstein Axes 'Less Than 10' Attorneys
Score another legal news scoop on the layoffs front for Above the Law:
The law blog says firm chairman James McAlpin Jr. has confirmed that Powell Goldstein laid off “less than 10” lawyers as part of a reduction in operating expenses this year. It was required by “the general economic situation,” McAlpin says in a e-mail.
Those let go were associates and counsel “in practice areas most affected by the current state of the economy,” he writes.
The 250-lawyer Atlanta-based law firm has been struggling to keep up with rapidly expanding competitors in recent years, and has lost a considerable number of attorneys in its Washington, D.C., office. At its high, in 2002, the D.C. office boasted an attorney roster of 110. But it had dwindled to about 60 in January, as discussed in an earlier ABAJournal.com post, and is now down to 48, according to the firm’s website.
At one point earlier this year, the firm reportedly was considering a merger with Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice.
