Layoffs

Cadwalader Offers Document Review Jobs to Lawyers on Sabbatical

Earlier this month, Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft announced that it was asking 34 of its lawyers to take a one-year sabbatical for “one-third of their current compensation and medical benefits.” The firm had planned to place the lawyers with clients or public interest organizations. Now the law firm is offering…

Jul 31, 2009 4:22 PM CDT

Will ‘Economic Edifice’ of BigLaw Crumble in the Recession?

In the boom times, big law firms reaped big fees and relentlessly expanded, pushing the average take home pay for partners to a million dollars or more. These firms had fallen prey “to the same strain of hubris that infected their clients,” legal journalist Douglas McCollam writes in an opinion…

Jul 30, 2009 1:37 PM CDT

Midlevel Associates Rank McKee Nelson Best for Handling Layoffs

When McKee Nelson laid off 17 associates and 15 staffers last November, the firm’s co-founder William Nelson told the Wall Street Journal Law Blog, “This is market-driven, not the fault of these kids.” That kind of approach helped make McKee Nelson top-ranked for its handling of layoffs in a survey…

Jul 30, 2009 1:07 PM CDT

UK Bar Group to Warn Students: A Legal Career Is Risky

The bar group representing solicitors in England and Wales is launching a new campaign to warn would-be lawyers that they could end up jobless and in debt. The Law Society plans to stress the competition for jobs and the high costs of legal training, according to Legal Week and the…

Jul 29, 2009 3:43 PM CDT

Less Pay, More Vacation for Employees of Scotland’s Biggest Law Firm

Staff members have voted overwhelmingly in support of a temporary 10-percent pay cut at the biggest law firm in Scotland, from September to April, when the next fiscal year begins. The alternative would be layoffs, as Dundas and Wilson rebalances its expenses to match income, reports the BBC. Meanwhile, the…

Jul 24, 2009 7:42 PM CDT

Dechert Confirms Layoffs of ‘a Number of People’

Dechert has laid off additional lawyers and staffers in a sixth round of cuts. The law firm confirmed layoffs of “a number of people” in a statement made to the Legal Intelligencer. The publication says the firm’s largest round of layoffs was in March, when the firm laid off 63…

Jul 24, 2009 11:59 AM CDT

Akerman Senterfitt Is Latest Firm to Cut Pay by 10 Percent

Florida-based Akerman Senterfitt has cut associate pay by 10 percent in an effort to avoid layoffs, a source tells a legal publication. “The thought process was to preserve associate jobs,” the source told the Daily Business Review. Another source said job cuts may have to be made if the economy…

Jul 22, 2009 4:55 PM CDT

Suit by Fired Lateral Partner Says Edwards Angell Should Have Lowered Expectations

A lateral partner fired for failing to meet revenue projections claims in a lawsuit that Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge should have lowered its expectations after the economic downturn. Edwards Angell hired Stephen Connoni from K&L Gates in September 2007, the New York Law Journal reports. Connoni was to be…

Jul 22, 2009 2:02 PM CDT

Ariz. AG Lays Off 12 Lawyers, 17 Staff

In another sign of the dismal economic times, the Arizona attorney general’s office is axing 12 lawyers and 17 staff members to close a $2 million budget gap. The layoffs were announced today by the Attorney General Terry Goddard and will take effect July 31, reports the Phoenix Business Journal.…

Jul 20, 2009 8:28 PM CDT

E-Mail Leaks About Layoffs Prompt Law Firms to Set New PR Course

When Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt started informing those affected that it was laying off 19 of its 400 employees and cut associate pay last month, it took less than an hour for the news to leak to the legal media. A mere 41 minutes later, the Portland, Ore.-based law firm…

Jul 20, 2009 4:06 PM CDT

A ‘Sense of Desperation’ Among NY Lawyers Seeking Help for Depression

The leader of a new support group for lawyers dealing with the economic downturn says attendees are dealing with a lack of sympathy and increased frustrations caused by fruitless job searches. The licensed psychologist and lawyer leading the group is Sylvan Schaffer, the New York Law Journal reports. The program,…

Jul 20, 2009 3:02 PM CDT

Why Minn. Firms Are Laying People Off, Despite Respectable Partner Profits

Partners at Minnesota’s two largest law firms made between $535,000 and $585,000 last year, but profitability isn’t protecting employees at those firms. Faegre & Benson has laid off 29 lawyers, and Dorsey & Whitney has laid off 55 support workers and cut associates’ pay by 10 percent, Minnesota Lawyer reports.…

Jul 17, 2009 5:32 PM CDT

NJ Attorney General Seeks Unemployed Lawyers Willing to Work for Free

The New Jersey Attorney General’s office is battling the effects of a hiring freeze with a new internship program for unemployed lawyers and law grads. Previously, the program hired only law students, the New Jersey Star-Ledger reports. Under the new, expanded program, licensed lawyers could handle some trial work, conduct…

Jul 15, 2009 3:45 PM CDT

Good News & Bad for Hogan Summers: You Have an Offer for 2011

There’s good news and bad news for some summer associates at Hogan & Hartson. After word earlier this month that the firm is letting go 30 senior associates, Hogan & Hartson plans to make more offers than it might have otherwise to summer associates in the firm’s Washington, D.C., and…

Jul 14, 2009 7:17 PM CDT

Why Midlevel Associates May Prosper, Despite Likelihood of More Layoffs

A legal expert is predicting more layoffs at law firms, but the picture is rosier for midlevel associates with three or four years of experience. Bill Brennan of legal consulting firm Altman Weil told the Philadelphia Inquirer that more law firm layoffs are likely. Layoffs “have definitely subsided, but the…

Jul 14, 2009 11:45 AM CDT