Schiff Axes Parties, Cuts Other Costs, But Avoids Layoffs
There won’t be many parties at Schiff Hardin this year. But, due to its diversified practice and lack of long-term debt, the 400-attorney Chicago-based national law firm is in a strong position and expects to avoid layoffs, its managing partner says.
An early retirement program for staff aged 60 and over should result in a small but sufficient number of volunteers to permit Schiff to avoid staff layoffs, Managing Partner Ronald Safer predicts. And he doesn’t expect associate layoffs, period, he tells the ABA Journal.
Commenting to the ABA Journal concerning an e-mail he recently sent to associates about firm cost-cutting, Safer says the document speaks for itself. (A copy of the e-mail was published this afternoon in Above the Law.)
As the e-mail outlines, the firm is trimming or eliminating entirely numerous holiday events this year, and shortening its summer program. It is also postponing the start date for incoming first-year associates to January of 2010, among other cost-cutting efforts.
“I think it speaks well of the partnership,” Safer says concerning the firm’s cost-cutting program and avoidance of layoffs.
“Like every firm, we won’t do as well in this economy as we do in most,” he says. But “the operators of the business are going to step up and be responsible for that, not the 25-year employees who, frankly, would have a very difficult time finding another job in this economy.”
Safer describes the firm’s cost-cutting in his e-mail as “minor relative to the drastic measures taken by many other major law firms”–which, as discussed in earlier ABAJournal.com posts, have laid off more than 7,000 attorneys and staff in the first quarter of 2009. Partners at Schiff are sharing in the cost of the economic downturn, he says, rather than sacrificing staff to boost their own profits.
“That stands in stark contrast to many of our competitors,” Safer writes, and “is, in my view, one of the critical factors that makes our firm a different and wonderful place to work.”
Additional coverage:
Crain’s Chicago Business: “Firm punts picnic, dance to avoid job cuts”
Updated at 5:55 p.m. to link to subsequent Crain’s article.
