Squire Sanders Indefinitely Defers Half Its Incoming Associates, Plans More Layoffs
Squire, Sanders & Dempsey is indefinitely deferring half of its incoming class of associates and planning to lay off an additional 20 to 25 timekeepers.
A law firm statement provided to the ABA Journal says the law firm’s chairman, James Maiwurm, announced the cuts in a conference call with associates on Tuesday. About half the 2009 associate class, already deferred until January 2010, will be further deferred and the law firm will “closely review its existing capacity,” the statement says.
According to the statement: “Maiwurm said he expects that, over the next 45 days, there will be further timekeeper reductions based on both performance and lower client demand for certain services in various practices and locations. The number of reductions has not yet been determined. Based on current assessments, the firm expects the reductions to be in the range of 20-25 worldwide.”
Above the Law broke the news earlier today.
The statement says the firm plans to move from a lockstep associate compensation system to a pay plan that is based on mastery of specific skills. Maiwurm also announced that Squire Sanders’ year-to-date performance is consistent with and perhaps better than that of peer law firms, but it is “not immune from the continuing unprecedented conditions affecting our clients and the legal industry generally.”
