Skadden Cuts Staff Attorneys and At Least 25 Other Staff
In better economic times, Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom had enough work to keep a cadre of staff attorneys busy.
But now, after an earlier layoff of some staff attorneys in January, Skadden is reportedly wielding the ax again. The firm is cutting an unknown number of staff lawyers as well as an unknown number of other staff members in its United States offices, reports Am Law Daily, which relies on an unnamed source for its report.
Michael Rogan, who heads the Washington, D.C., office of the firm, confirms that 25 staff members there were let go, reports the Blog of Legal Times. This figure doesn’t include any staff attorneys, but the layoffs coincided with voluntary departures of nine associates and two staff attorneys who left to join the new BuckleySandler financial services boutique.
Andrew Sandler, who formerly headed Skadden’s consumer financial services enforcement and litigation group, co-founded the new firm earlier this month.
Meanwhile, the staff cuts at Skadden go beyond the D.C. office, according to the Am Law Daily and an unconfirmed report in the Above the Law legal tabloid.
Above the Law was the first to post the news, apparently based on anonymous tips and unconfirmed by Skadden, that 50 support staff members and an unknown but significant number of staff attorneys are being let go.
Reportedly, no associates are included in these Skadden layoffs.
The layoffs news follows earlier reports in Above the Law and the Am Law Daily, based on an internal Skadden memo, that the firm is encouraging incoming first-year associates to take a year off before starting work. Those who opt to do so will receive a lump-sum payment equal to one-third of what they would have earned at Skadden.
