Nationwide Layoff Watch: More South Florida Suffering
The bad news continues to roll in. Becker & Poliakoff, which just announced across-the-board pay cuts for its lawyers, isn't the only Florida firm that's hurting.
From a report by Julie Kay, for the upcoming issue of the National Law Journal:
In another sign of the hard times facing the legal industry, particularly in real-estate heavy South Florida, two local law firms -- Holland & Knight and Shutts & Bowen -- have laid off non-lawyer staffers.On a day that could be dubbed Black Friday in South Florida legal circles, Tampa-based Holland & Knight, one of Florida's largest and most venerable firms with 1,150 lawyers, laid off 70 staffers Friday, including legal secretaries, IT and accounting staff. No lawyers were laid off.
The layoffs of about four employees in each of Holland's 17 offices represented 5% of Holland's non-lawyer workforce.
Shutts & Bowen, a 200-lawyer, Miami-based firm, Friday laid off nine people, all entry level file clerks or paralegal clerks. No lawyers or legal secretaries were affected.
Holland & Knight spokeswoman Susan Bass told the Daily Business Review that the firm "had some redundancies and inefficiencies." Seventy staffers is a whole lot of redundancies.
Read more -- about prior layoffs at H&K, and the situation over at Greenberg Traurig -- below the fold.
This isn't the first time for Holland & Knight:
In 2002, the firm laid off 60 lawyers and more than 100 staff members, or 5% of its attorneys and 10% of its staff. The layoffs came in the wake of publication of an internal memo sent from a partner to the firm's then-managing partner criticizing the rapid expansion, saying it was done at the expense of profitability. There was no sign of a financial downturn brewing at a lavish cocktail party held by Holland & Knight for its clients and reporters two weeks ago at Mar-a-Lago, Donald Trump's Palm Beach manse.
And what about Greenberg Traurig, which has been the subject of some layoff rumors?
Matt Gorson, hiring partner at Greenberg Traurig, Florida's largest firm, said recently that he moved some Miami associates out of real estate and into litigation as real estate has slowed. It is unclear if the firm has done layoffs. Calls to Gorson and a firm spokeswoman were not returned by deadline.
As always, if you have layoff news that hasn't been previously reported here, please email us. Although we've been reporting on lots of layoffs, we feel that we're only seeing the tip of the iceberg. Thanks.
South Florida law firms hit by real estate slump, shed workers [National Law Journal]
Holland & Knight Cuts Staff Jobs [Daily Business Review]
(21) 
FIRST to the unemployment line.
OH NOES!!
I heard the guy at the Qwick Stop down the road just got his hours cut, I better alert ATL so this manufactured layoff crisis continues!!
1:03 ---> Legal secretaries = Convenience store clerks.
Ouch.
Guys at my high school fired 70 staffers all the time. It was no big deal.
5th! GT is the BEST FIRM ever! Especially WPB!
Redundancies??
Using a British word doesnt make it seem like a nobler move.
Hahaha, safe! Oh wait, the "performance reviews" are next month.
Can you just post some more pics of Kash please?
Guys at my high school posted pictures of Kash all the time. It was no big deal.
Let's see 1,100 plus lawyers........70 staff laid off......methinks it will hardly be noticed.....
Guys at my high school dubbed it Black Friday all the time. It was no big deal....
Terrible news. Who will manage the solitare and instant messaging systems?
NLJ's article stated "layoffs of about four employees in each of Holland's 17 offices". Hey guys, what do you think happened to attorneys for whom the laid off legal secretaries worked? Given that 3:1 ratio is pretty common nowadays, stands to reason that a legal secretary becomes redundant when 2 or 3 attorneys are no longer with firm.
Why is it always support staff that gets canned first? If the firm was serious about saving money, they should sack the non-productive attorneys who make 2-3 times as much.
They should fire some attorneys and stop their ridiculous firm spending. They go out to eat with their families and charge the firm.
They should fire some attorneys and stop their ridiculous firm spending. They go out to eat with their families and charge the firm.
H&K has fired lawyers in the past too. It's not a place to go if you're looking for jon security.
4:04, staff don't get canned first. Attorneys are laid off or shown the door every year at every firm, simply because the BigLaw model depends on attorney attrition (at some of these firms 1 of every 75 or so end up making partner. The rest of those attorneys left, either by choice or force, somewhere along the way.). However, sometimes firms -- perhaps spurred by a worsening economy -- look to become more efficient with their staff payroll as well. Sometimes that means identifying roles that no longer produce valuable work, either because the position itself is no longer needed or because, quite simply, the person in the role isn't performing satisfactorily.
3:40, I don't know whether or not H&K has laid off attorneys, but laying off staff does not automatically mean that there was a decrease in the amount of work being done at the firm, or even a decrease in attorneys. As you can perhaps tell from the comments, some staff don't do much work. Instead, their slack is picked up by their overperforming staff peers who do their work and then some. Attorneys who don't bill get booted pretty quickly. Because secretaries don't bill, and because law firms are a pretty inefficient business organization, it can be hard to identify those who are working v. those who are coasting. If H&K fired non-performing staff, the attorneys can be reassigned pretty easily -- after all, if it was a poorly performing assistant, the attorneys probably weren't giving him/her much work in the first place.
Echo 11:54. Associates are usally the first to go by choice or by force. Either you are pulling your weight, or you are not. And its easy to tell who is not. But staff? Really hard to tell who is doing what and how valuable it is. In my experience, firms tolerate deadwood staff far longer than they do deadwood associates, even though some of that staff is highly paid (by staff standards).
More news, the down turn at Becker may have more to do with competition. I've heard their rival, Katzman & Korr has been taking clients like crazy.
"Legal Secretaries = Convenience Store Clerks" - I'm glad I don't work for jerks like you. You are either very insecure in your positions, have an elitist opinion that goes beyond extreme or are very cruel in bashing legal secretaries and store clerks. Perhaps you are even all of the above. You should realize that all work (regardless of what you do for a living) is honorable. And most importantly, it should be considered dignified in its own right. Everyone deserves respect. And it certainly is no laughing matter when anyone (attorney, secretary or yes, even a convenience store clerk) loses their job. While it may seem trivial in the greater scheme of things, it's important to those who have just lost their paychecks, their insurance, their pensions. They NEED their jobs. Go ahead and make light of it, but you may some day find yourself in the same boat. As a legal secretary of 30 years, I do more than faxing, copying and answering the phones, and I certainly don't have time to cruise the internet, "manage instant messaging" or play solitaire. Sure, some of my duties are unglamorous (which I call Cinderella duties), but my managers rely on me implicitly to keep their offices running smoothly and keep them on track. I take great pride in what I do. Grow up!