Layoffs

Oops. Troutman Accidentally Provides Partial Layoffs Tally

Although Troutman Sanders confirmed last month that the law firm is laying off lawyers and staff, its managing partner won’t say how many. But the firm’s website shows the 750-attorney international firm has 28 fewer lawyers now than it did six weeks ago, recounts the Daily Report in an article…

Apr 17, 2009 9:06 PM CDT

Boston Firm Snags 6-Lawyer Dewey Wealth Team

A 200-attorney Boston-based law firm has further expanded its growing New York office by adding a six-lawyer trusts and estates group from Dewey & LeBoeuf. Economic uncertainty, ironically, is keeping wealth management lawyers at Sullivan & Worcester and other firms busy, as clients reconfigure their remaining assets and anticipate possible…

Apr 17, 2009 8:46 PM CDT

Baker & Daniels Cuts 5 Associates & Others, Imposes Staff Wage Freeze

In a second round of layoffs since December, Indianapolis-based Baker & Daniels has cut more than 15 positions. The 320-attorney firm has also imposed a wage freeze, according to managing partner Tom Froehle, on what the Indianapolis Business Journal describes as “all operational staff.” Froehle confirms that nine staff positions…

Apr 17, 2009 7:06 PM CDT

Adding to Grim Math of Legal Job Market: 43,000 New Law Grads

After a stunning series of law firm layoffs and incoming associate start-date deferrals this year, some 43,000 third-year students will soon be graduating from the nation’s law schools. This grim math adds up to a tough job market for both the new graduates and a number of young attorneys who…

Apr 17, 2009 5:12 PM CDT

Lawyer Laid Off at Skadden After Surviving Hudson River Landing

Lawyer Frank Scudere considers himself lucky to be alive, but his luck ran out soon after surviving the Hudson River landing of US Airways Flight 1549. Scudere’s father died less than a week later, and Scudere’s law firm job was gone about two months after the water landing, according to…

Apr 17, 2009 3:01 PM CDT

Enterprising UCLA Offers Skills Training for Jobless 1st-Years

So many law firms have deferred the start date for entering first-year associates that a number reportedly are having difficulty finding jobs at nonprofit organizations. But at least one law school is now offering another alternative for newly minted attorneys without a place to start work. The University of California…

Apr 16, 2009 6:55 PM CDT

Lawyers Retool for Bankruptcy Practice, Due to Dismal Economy

Back when the economy was robust, attorney Brett King worked on mergers and acquisitions in Asia. Now he and other lawyers there bill themselves as “restructuring” experts—sometimes concerneing the same failed deals they helped put together, reports the Wall Street Journal. And they’re far from the only attorneys seeking a…

Apr 15, 2009 6:39 PM CDT

Legal Blogger Finds Being Laid Off Was Tougher Than She Imagined

Legal blogger Sarah Klem says she had sometimes imagined how cool and confident she would be if her Philadelphia law firm ever laid her off. Klem, who called herself “Philadelphia’s favorite legal assistant” on her blog, The Devil Wears Brooks Brothers, says reality was very different. “I was struck dumb,”…

Apr 15, 2009 1:00 PM CDT

Perkins Coie Cuts 12 Lawyers, 26 Staff

Widespread law firm layoffs have now spread to another well-known partnership, with news today that Perkins Coie is cutting 12 attorneys and 26 staff members. The firm confirmed in a brief statement provided to Above the Law that it had made the layoffs this week. It will provided nine months…

Apr 14, 2009 8:30 PM CDT

Northwestern Allows Unemployed Law Grads to Defer Loan Payments

Northwestern Law School has announced that graduates with deferred law-firm start dates don’t have to make school loan payments until they begin work. Laid-off alumni may also be able to participate in the loan forbearance program, announced in an e-mail to students by law dean David Van Zandt, the Chicago…

Apr 14, 2009 6:21 PM CDT

A Year Later, Ex-Thacher Lawyer Realizes Optimism Was Wrong

When Thacher Proffitt & Wood dissolved last year, lawyer Fanni Koszeg figured she could take it easy before looking for a job. Koszeg, 36, thought she might take the summer off and then find a public interest job. Now, a year later, Koszeg realizes she was too optimistic, the Associated…

Apr 14, 2009 12:09 PM CDT

Law Firm Layoffs Hit 10K Mark; Thursdays Most Often Bring Bad News

The layoff numbers have hit a depressing mark: In the last 15 months, more than 10,000 lawyers and legal staffers have lost their jobs at major law firms. LawShucks has the tally. March was the worst month so far, with 3,677 losing their legal jobs, according to the blog. There…

Apr 13, 2009 5:45 PM CDT

Associate Plans a Year of Travel, Thanks to Skadden’s No-Strings-Attached Offer

Sixth-year associate Heather Eisenlord hopes to visit as many as 15 locations in an upcoming year-long world trip. During that time, she might practice not-for-profit law, or teach English to monks in Sri Lanka or help bring solar power to parts of the Himalayas. Eisenlord’s employer, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher…

Apr 13, 2009 10:59 AM CDT

Booted from the ‘Money Train,’ Lawyer Happily Hangs Out Shingle

For years, David Koller had been following what he calls the money train, seeking the best—and highest-paying—jobs to help him advance in his career and pay “the nut” on his student loans. But his last leap to a new job, in 2007, wasn’t entirely a good fit. And, when the…

Apr 11, 2009 12:12 AM CDT

Denver Firm Lays Off 37, Spares Others Thanks to Pay-Cut Volunteers

A well-known Denver-based law firm is laying off 15 attorneys and 22 staff members. But the cuts would have been deeper at Brownstein Hyatt Farber Shreck, its managing partner says, if the remaining troops hadn’t agreed to take pay cuts to spare some of their colleagues the ax, reports Above…

Apr 10, 2009 7:23 PM CDT