Nationwide Layoff Watch: The Sun Is Not Shining At Sonnenschein
Today is not a good day to be Carlo Rizzi. We’re getting word that Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal is laying off a bunch of attorneys and staff today. The big number we are hearing is that 60 associates and staff are out of jobs.
According to one tipster, the layoffs are being carried out nationwide, with no input from local offices.
However you slice it, 60 is a huge number. Sonnenschein didn’t exactly deny these reports. A firm spokesperson told us:
We look at staffing levels around this time every year as part of our budget and practice planning processes, and it is not unusual for us to make adjustments. While we understand that rumors such as the one you are reporting about Sonnenschein and multiple other law firms are circulating, we have nothing to add at this time.
More on Sonnenchein’s layoffs after the jump.
We expect Sonnenschein to be cautious when it comes to press inquires about layoffs. You’ll remember that last time the firm took some heat for their non-existent severance packages.
According to a tipster, this year’s severance package will be similar to what happened before:
[Y]ou are still on the payroll until the end of the year but you are “required” to “work” (whatever that means, as they never really fleshed that out then or now). I suspect it is to mitigate their losses as people find other work and also to keep people in check while they are still getting paid.
Good luck to everybody out there suffering from a dreaded “October Surprise.” Spend some time with the family, take a mini-vacation, and then get right back on the horse. Layoffs are the definition of a “it’s not you, it’s me” break-up.
Update: The firm has confirmed that there were layoffs. More details here.
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Comments
yikes
Long time reader, first time FIRSTER!
FIRSTTT
These are very scary times.
Which offices? Any news on their CharloTTTe office?
THIS IS GETTING ILLMATIC
- Senor Illmatico
Long time reader, first time FIRSTER!
We need an ATL Platinium were we only talk about real law schools and law firms.
When has anyone at Case Western or Sonnsh!tty ever done anything important?
what the hell is going on today? shudder.
You think everyone was waiting for the first firm to do it and now that Clifford Chance has done it its just the beginning of a huge wave of cuts?
9, well two weeks notice till the end of the month puts you pretty squarely at today...
Hey Hofstra, how you doing? Say hi to your mom for me, ok.
Sonnenshein up yo ass.
8 - as cool as nervous T10 1L.
(still though, you have a point)
10 - absolutely. The strong will separate from the weak over the coming weeks.
"Layoffs are the definition of a "It's not you, it's me" break-up. "
What do you mean? It is totally you. There is a reason they lay off some people and not others.
SPOILER ALERT:
It's because the people who get laid of are bottom of the barrel.
OOH, WHO ELSE WILL BE AXING?
ANYONE FROM V50?
DO TELL.
15: True. Many of them may be careless and may make careless errors such as dropping one of the "f"s in "off."
laid of? I don't get it, please explain.
NY TO 190!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (I started drinking when the CC layoff news hit).
Suck it T10 1L. We all know you are Mystall's fat little brother.
suck it.
twenty-FIRST
Anyone else get a really sexist vibe from Cravath? Spent the entire day interviewing there, and the only woman I met was the floozy who guided me around the office, shaking her ass the whole time like some kind of stripper. Probably going to turn them down and take the Wachtell instead.
There is a reason they lay off some people and not others.
__________________________________________
Because they need lay off some people, but not others?
Siren?
I wonder if all the layoffs are because the summer is over and summer associates have solidified their position. So the summer associates who accepted are not going to run off somewhere at hearing bad news. OCI is over so if they even throught about looking elsewhere, they are SOL.
More than 700 points down in the DOW, the magic 8-ball says that a lot more associates are going to lose their jobs and the partners will find themselves with a one bedroom in Wildwood, New Jersey, instead of a mansion right on the beach in the Hamptons.
I wonder if all the layoffs are because the summer is over and summer associates have solidified their position. So the summer associates who accepted are not going to run off somewhere at hearing bad news. OCI is over so if they even throught about looking elsewhere, they are SOL.
I wonder if all the layoffs are because the summer is over and summer associates have solidified their position. So the summer associates who accepted are not going to run off somewhere at hearing bad news. OCI is over so if they even throught about looking elsewhere, they are SOL.
22 -- did you get her name? Sounds cool.
What a great time to concurrently raise taxes on husbands and wifes jointly earning $250,ooo and above and to give $1 trillion a year to those households who currently pay no income tax in the form of tax credits!
Go Obama-Biden! Go socialism!
22 -- did you get her name? Sounds cool.
What a great time to concurrently raise taxes on husbands and wifes jointly earning $250,ooo and above and to give $1 trillion a year to those households who currently pay no income tax in the form of tax credits!
Go Obama-Biden! Go socialism!
Yes Chicken Little the sky is falling!
yikes
I would assume that the layoffs won't really start in earnest until after the 2009 summer recruiting is complete...
30 would have voted for Hoover in 1932.
The stock market is down something like 40 percent this past year, one in three houses in some communities are in foreclosure, consumer spending is down, credit is unattainable for anyone except those who don't need it, and Willie Sutton's famous comment that he robbed banks because "that's where the money was" isn't true any more. Even the banks are broke.
And you fools are twittering about associate jobs?
In a year or less, many of you won't even have the luxury of complaining. You'll be happy to have jobs, period.
~In House Counsel
The news today just grows more and more grim by the moment. I truly want to hide under my desk.
It seems like it would be extremely easy to have the website auto-delete duplicate comments. Lat? Mystal? Can we get this done?
If you are so worried about losing your jobs, be proactive. Go to the partners in your law firm and offer to take a pay cut in exchange for not being laid off.
Believe me, layoffs are coming and it is every man for himself. Those who think, do, and those who don't, post anonymously on Internet message boards.
30,
We can thank our fearless President for those inspiring words below.
“These are extraordinary measures, no question about it,” President Bush said. “But they’re well thought out, they are necessary, and I’m confident in the long run this economy will come back."
Heckuva job, Bushie!
A lot of people are suffering from a so-called "October surprise."
My reaction given the retail downturn that sparked the 700 Dow plunge?
Pain. I see pain.
Seventy-two percent of our economy is based on spending??
Pain. I see pain.
Pain for you, for me, and for everyone.
Next?
Trig Palin was behind these latest cuts. Mark my words.
Seven, seven hundred, seven hundred point drooooooooooooooop!
41, Do you think that in the long run the economy will not come back?
Note: please, only serious replies.
I am a 3L with an offer from a V-30. I know things are slow at my firm, and am seriously becoming concerned that the firm will revoke my offer. How much of a real possibility is this? Things are very, very bad I know. But how much worse do things need to get before they start revoking offers?
46 - start applying for scuba instructor positions in Florida before the inundation of applications begins.
45,
The economy will come back. The only question is whether it is 10 years or 20 years or more.
It all depends on the quality of the leadership -- of which there is none right now.
Next question, dumbass?
Cutting associate pay won't work. Law firms see this as an opportunity to cut the fat (if they get some meat in there, so be it). Firms would much rather have everyone busy at full pay than people working half the time at half pay.
39 - it would probably be super easy. you should write a snippet of code for Lat.
45 - In the long run, we're all dead. -JMKeynes
Scuba instructors in Florida are only taking associates from a top 10 school, above 3.5 GPA and with a minimum of 4 years of securities/M&A experience. Otherwise no dice.
48 = troll or angry moron.
52--who do the scuba instructors instruct? no one can afford scuba lessons!
THANK YOU REPUBLICANS AND YOUR DE-REGULATION POLICIES. NOBODY WAS WATCHING WHILE MORTGAGE BROKERS, INVESTMENT BANKS AND CREDIT RATING AGENCIES COMBINED TO WRECK OUR ECONOMY.
THANK YOU DEMOCRATS FOR DEMANDING FREDDIE MAC AND FANNIE MAY MAKE LOANS TO PEOPLE WHO COULD NEVER IMAGINE REPAYING THEM, COMBINING TO WRECK OUR ECONOMY
46 - call and ask. Or talk to associates you clicked with during the recruiting process. You have an offer, they're not going to revoke it for you asking. They may lie, but you never know...they may say something insightful like - if you have other opportunities, it may be wise to pursue them.
55-Don't forget the attorneys who gave their blessings to the package.
56 - pathetic response.
Chicago firms are hurting. Both Sonnenschein and Katten will be faced with dissolution.
Partner G.G.:
Well, I appreciate the opportunity you're giving me Mr./Ms. Associate as the single largest Partner in TTT Law, to speak. Well, ladies and gentlemen we're not here to indulge in fantasy but in political and economic reality. America, America has become a second-rate power. Its trade deficit and its fiscal deficit are at nightmare proportions. Now, in the days of the free market when our country was a top industrial power, there was accountability to the Partner. The Cravaths, the Bartletts, the Skaddens, the men that built this great legal empire, made sure of it because it was their money at stake. Today, associates have no stake in the firm! All together, these men sitting up here own less than three percent of the firm. And where does Mr./Ms. Associate put his 160k salary? Not in firm partnership interests; he owns nothing. The Partners own the firm.
That's right, you, the Partner. And you are all being royally screwed over by these, these associates, with their luncheons, their golfing and fishing trips, their black cars and free dinners.
TTT Law has 333 different associates each earning almost 200 thousand dollars a year. Now, I have spent the last two months analyzing what all these guys do, and I still can't figure it out. One thing I do know is that firm lost [*] dollars last year, and I'll bet that half of that was spent in all the paperwork going back and forth between all these associates. The new law of evolution in legal America seems to be survival of the unfittest. Well, in my book you either do it right or you get eliminated. In the last seven firms that I've been involved with, there were 25 partners who have made a pretax profit of 2.5 million dollars.
Thank you. I am not a destroyer of firms. I am a liberator of them! The point is, ladies and gentleman, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right, greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind. And greed, you mark my words, will not only save TTT Law, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA. Thank you very much.
Why are Chicago firms hurting any more than firms in other cities?
62
All the talent has gone into the Obama campaign and the dregs are left behind?
Just a guess.
BTW, 61 is pretty funny as hell.
What firms are safe bets in Chicago? This is a key factor for me in deciding where to summer.
We now need a TTT firm.
I can't believe this is happening, AGAIN, at SNR. Rumor has it their CFO is leaving (prior to second round layoff announcement.) That should sum it up for anyone who is wondering if they will make it or not.
To all the folks still there: the writing is on the wall - initiate your own search - stay ahead of the powercurve.
The firm changed and it will never be same since Duane Quaini, former Chairman, stepped down and some egotistical, inexperienced, wet behind the ears boy took over. I mourn the loss of what once was a firm who valued its employees and clients dignity and respect. It truly is all about the benjamins now.
Any layoffs at Sonnenschein KC? Thanks.
67,
If you are seriously considering KC, you will not succeed in life.
I think these layoffs are just the beginning. 4th quarter earnings will be dismal come January, more bankruptcies will hit (and not just financial firms) and the wide-spread effects of the credit-crisis will have manifested itself in the overall economy.
It seems like the market right now is reacting out of fear of the unknown. But in a few months, the market will react to concrete earnings covering the period we are in now, and it won't be pretty.
Cravath is full of homos. Skadden much better to work for.
balls deep
64: any of the big boys--Sidley, Kirkland, Skadden--will be just fine in Chicago.
L&W are laying people off.
Will the gov't bailout my student loans now, please?
~ChixLittle
Also layoffs at Jones Day
8, I'm sure you'd eventually get bored with a blog filled purely with comments calling UPenn "Penn State" and "GULCing" people all day.
What's going on at Jones Day? How many gone?
69 is dead on. By the time this is over, the vast majority of the V-100 will have cut their associate numbers IN HALF.
Mark this post. 2009 will be a year everyone remembers for the rest of their lives.
There is nothing little about Mystttal's chicken.
64- The bigger firms will do better. Try to stay V50.
L&W - Jones Day? Details please, or are you making this up?
69 is absolutely right. I wonder if, 3 years from now, a potential hiring partner would fault me for having simply dropped out of my current gig and taken 3 years to experience some personal growth through being a ski bum, scuba instructor, etc. I mean, by then, the market should be back and I could find a job, right? Why toil in fear until then, pretending to be busy?
But what about Jones Day and L&W? How many have been laid off?
This economy will have (hopefully) a sobering effect on some of the entitled jacka$$es that post here.
We'll see who is laughing when a lawyer from a TTT school is working and some of the holier than thou are out on their a$$es.
82- do you practice being a conceited little prick or does it come naturally?
Which types of firms will fare the best in the current economic situation? Are firms which focus on any particular area safer than others? Are firms which are not heavily dependent on finance or transactional work better bets, or are there serious problems across the board?
84 -- Every large law firm will have to do mass layoffs to survive. It's as simple as that.
I expect the middle of the road firms -- Milbank, Sidley, W&C -- to be next.
layoffs at Fried Frank-30 to 40 tomorrow.
The issue is broader than practice area. Several V100 firms are relying on debt to cover payroll because they are not good at collections (it's "unseemly"), their clients just don't have it/don't want to pay it now, or that's just how they've been operating to pay their rainmakers millions and the 160k starting salaries, but with credit drying up that's a problem for those firms...several V100 firms also rely heavily on a handful of clients or financial institutions that are a large percentage of their work and the firm isn't diversified enough.
Are layoffs to date generally across all classes, or are firms trimming the fat more heavily at the less profitable levels (1st-3rd years), while maintaining greater numbers at the more profitable mid-level?
Pillsbury has laid people off.
looks like I picked the wrong day to stop sniffing glue.
partner layoffs will be next
35 partner layoffs at kramer levin
35 partner layoffs at kramer levin
how will "boutiques" like williams & connolly make out?
35 partners at KL? Are you sure?
how will "boutiques" like wachtell be affected?
22 - please remove the penis from your mouth and grow a pair. if your'e a chick, well, based on your comments, you must be fugly. TFB.
how will "boutiques" like boies schiller be affected?
vote obama to change this bullshit situation where 60 TRILLION in unregulated CDS tanked our economy thanks to Bush/McCain/Gramm
layoffs in the mail room at seyfarth shaw.
I know CC dropped lit people yesterday, but generally speaking, is it the corporate, real estate, and finance type groups that are having the most issues and most prone to lay offs?
61...not impressed.
wachtell will lay off marty lipton tomorrow!
you heard it here first!
101 - whatever group you want to be in will be the one most prone to layoffs, fucktard.
No layoffs at Jones Day. They do not lay people off for macroeconomic reasons.
No layoffs at Jones Day. They do not lay people off for macroeconomic reasons.
98, 96 and 94 -- Those firms will be just fine. They're a cut above everyone else in terms of high-profile litigation.
how will "boutiques" like the law offices of marc edelman be affected?
97 - look like you want some...
Rumor that Howrey is planning on stealth layoffs by the beginning of next year....anyone else heard this? Word is that it is extremely slow across all practice groups.
rumor has it that that there will be unsubstantiated rumors about layoffs on this board.
Me thinks there has been a lot of BS on thsi board today about which firms are laying off. All that in one day would be an unprecedented shitstorm, the likes of which we have not seen since the Dow was at 8500. Oh, wait.
me thinks that people who say "me thinks" are fucking tools of the highest order.
may god have mercy on your stupid fucking soul.
I was just layed off at thatcher-yay!
So, let's hear some predictions about which of the V100 firms are in the shitter and which ones will be ok- someone go down the whole list.
113 - sarcastic or not, you're a hypocrite.
And re: the existence of god, see subsequent blog posting.
How will "boutiques" such as the law offices of Larry H. Parker be affected?
layoffs at Weil Gotshal... 73 associates, 2 legal secretaries in the next week
"Rumor that Howrey is planning on stealth layoffs by the beginning of next year....anyone else heard this? Word is that it is extremely slow across all practice groups."
Howrey associate here. Firm is up from last year and last year was up 10-15%. IP and anti-trust practice is strong but global lit is slow. I do not foresee layoffs, stealth or otherwise unless truly performance based.
I heard WILDMAN HARROLD is hiring 178 associates tomorrow.
115 - you're gonna be next for the chop, you tool.
Has anyone substantiated the layoff rumors for Alston and Bird?
Better to be a first year associate than a second year associate right about now.
118 is an idiot
the legal secretaries at weil are the retardedest
I'm willing to bet Mayer Brown will be laying off next
A&B - there are more lay offs coming
121- I can't be fired, I'm just a nervous T10 1L. I just want to know where NOT to interview
MOFO CUTTING ITS LEGAL RECRUITING DEPT. IN HALF!!!!!!
129 -- What about its illegal recruiting department?
115- heres your list as taken from above the law. someone else can feel free to use it to comment
1. Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz (8.777)
2. Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP (8.732)
3. Sullivan & Cromwell LLP (8.257)
4. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP (8.135)
5. Davis Polk & Wardwell (8.070)
6. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP (7.985)
7. Latham & Watkins LLP (7.784)
8. Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton LLP (7.754)
9. Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP (7.623)
10. Kirkland & Ellis LLP (7.473)
11. Covington & Burling LLP (7.428)
12. Debevoise & Plimpton LLP (7.417)
13. Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP (7.290)
14. Williams & Connolly LLP (7.238)
15. Sidley Austin LLP (7.201)
16. Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP (7.056)
17. Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP (7.055)
18. White & Case LLP (7.054)
19. Shearman & Sterling LLP (7.043)
20. Arnold & Porter LLP (6.905)
21. O'Melveny & Myers LLP (6.815)
22. Clifford Chance LLP (6.772)
23. Jones Day (6.763)
24. Morrison & Foerster LLP (6.657)
25. Hogan & Hartson LLP (6.579)
26. Linklaters (6.574)
27. Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy (6.512)
28. Ropes & Gray LLP (6.501)
29. Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw LLP (6.494)
30. Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker (6.481)
31. Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP (6.461)
32. Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP (6.327)
33. Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP (6.313)
34. Winston & Strawn LLP (6.275)
35. Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges LLP (6.235)
36. Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP (6.174)
37. Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe (6.173)
38. Allen & Overy LLP (6.147)
39. Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft (6.131)
40. Proskauer Rose LLP (6.102)
41. Baker Botts LLP (6.096)
42. King & Spalding LLP (6.066)
43. DLA Piper (6.039)
44. Baker & McKenzie (5.982)
45. Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati (5.976)
46. Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP (5.974)
47. Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP (5.941)
48. Dewey & LeBoeuf (5.924)
49. Fulbright & Jaworski LLP (5.906)
50. McDermott, Will & Emery (5.892)
51. Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP (5.851)
52. Dechert LLP (5.838)
53. Vinson & Elkins LLP (5.822)
54. Goodwin Procter LLP (5.815)
55. Jenner & Block LLP (5.778)
56. Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP (5.728)
57. Alston & Bird LLP (5.715)
58. Fish & Richardson P.C. (5.706)
59. Cooley Godward LLP (5.692)
60. Irell & Manella LLP (5.635)
61. Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP (5.608)
62. Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP (5.583)
63. Bingham McCutchen LLP (5.583)
64. Greenberg Traurig, LLP (5.478)
65. Holland & Knight LLP (5.416)
66. Heller Ehrman LLP (5.346)
67. Foley & Lardner LLP (5.266)
68. Steptoe & Johnson LLP (5.252)
69. K&L Gates LLP (5.242)
70. Kaye Scholer LLP (5.230)
71. Nixon Peabody LLP (5.218)
72. Hunton & Williams LLP (5.208)
73. Perkins Coie LLP (5.119)
74. Reed Smith LLP (5.057)
75. Patton Boggs LLP (5.050)
76. Chadbourne & Parke LLP (4.997)
77. Bryan Cave LLP (4.969)
78. Thacher Proffitt & Wood LLP (4.967)
79. Howrey LLP (4.926)
80. Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP (4.910)
81. Crowell & Moring LLP (4.763)
82. Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP (4.754)
83. Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP (4.735)
84. Arent Fox PLLC (4.726)
85. McGuireWoods LLP (4.697)
86. Venable LLP (4.676)
87. Dorsey & Whitney LLP (4.575)
88. Dickstein Shapiro LLP (4.554)
89. Baker & Hostetler (4.531)
90. Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, L.L.P (4.503)
91. Lovells (4.494)
92. Thelen Reid Brown Raysman & Steiner LLP (4.489)
93. Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP (4.478)
94. Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP (4.459)
95. Kilpatrick Stockton LLP (4.452)
96. Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell LLP (4.439)
97. Squire, Sanders & Dempsey LLP (4.421)
98. Seyfarth Shaw (4.399)
99. Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo PC (4.394)
100. Fenwick & West LLP (4.373)
I can't imagine any firm in the V17 or better laying anyone off.
I just left my V60 firm and started by own shop. How will I be affected? If clients have a choice b/w me and a major firm, will they pick me if I charge less?
http://fordhamnotes.blogspot.com/2008/10/top-firms-turn-to-fordham-law-for-new.html
Top Firms Turn to Fordham Law for New Associates
Anyone know anything about the TTTexas firms?
413 part time GULCers were gassed to death today apparently in an attempt at mercy killings by the school.
132 - you are a naive little prick. of course v17 firms are going to be cutting. wake up little pecker..
All this bad news is making me shit my pants - arrgghhhhh! That's better . . . .
This is truly sad...
132 - please dunk your head in a toilet and wake up.
137 & 140 = non-V17 failures
135- I'm also curious to know what the vibe is at the Texas-centric places (though I take issue with your use of TTT). How 'bout it? What's the word at Baker Botts, Fullbright, V&E?
Whats dropped more in the past year - the Dow or Sonn's payroll?
Cravath is sittin pretty .... line waiting around the corner to wipe everyones ass up here in the Death Star.
Sorry, Scatten Munchin and Hofstra.
Balls Deep PRIDE
http://obamaisscum.blogspot.com/
survival of the fittest. associates and firms.
botts is looking shakey...
gdc :(
Sonnenschein apparently pulled out of my school's OCI. They were at an "employer symposium" event in April, and then when bidding for interviews came around, they were all of a sudden in the "resume collect" category. I more than met their hiring criteria, but never heard back. They must've seen this coming and scaled back recruiting.
133: You should seriously start considering laying yourself off.
Baker & McKenzie is doing just fine. A friend explained that their global reach and relatively few offices in N.America relative to the rest of the world have them, essentially, well diversified to withstand this current economic downturn. I'm trying to get an interview...
69, agree with you that current layoffs are just the beginning. However, markets (and pretty much everyone else) already know NOW that 4Q earnings will be "dismal" - no need to wait for January - which is why markets are so schizo NOW. Do you understand that markets look to future earnings potential while Q statements merely document 3 months which already PASSED??? Thus, markets are reacting to "fear of the unknown" only in the sense that they don't know if recession will continue into 2010, not whether it will happen. Markets already know that 2009 is a wash from earnings standpoint; Q statements will merely note how well/badly companies are surviving the downturn.
[END INTRO TO MARKET ECONOMICS]
And 133, truly hope that your comment was in jest. Otherwise, I hope that you have a contingency plan.
I guess that there will definitely not be any Sonnenschein merger with Foley & Lardner.
WLRK only hires "special" people so they should be fine.
151, not watching news lately, huh? Happen to hear little tidbit that while things are bad here, actually worse across the pond? Here about certain country called Iceland? While B&M probably can ride out this nightmare, global reach is not sufficient cushion. Just something to mull over.
anything on jenner?
Don't be fooled by the job that you got
You'll be laid off by Jenner and the Block
- J-Law
157 - Props!
You cannot use Baker's gazillion offices as support that it is "diversified," and therefore, protected from the downturn. Baker's international offices do not pay U.S. market rates.
Can we get a pay cut instead of a layoff????
Please??
I have student loans (undergrad and law school)
NY to 120!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I second your comment 159. Firms should give choice of pay cut or pay freeze
Elliott Portnoy should do the honorable thing and resign. He may be a rainmaker, but manager of the year he is not. I wouldn't hire him to manage my laundry. He is in the process of running that firm into the ground and smearing its reputation in the process. He is obviously in over his head. The moves he has made are straight from the altheimer playbook.
Sonnenschein has no compassion for anyone, it's all about the benjamins. Experienced personnel are being let go to bring in the young blood at half the cost. Where did all the loyalty and ass kissing get anyone! Wake up, smell the coffee and get out while you still can.
160 - Lawyers that are making their hours (and not seeing friends and family for months on end) might disagree with you.
Associates that get fired are (1) in practice areas that no longer justify the staffing levels of 2004-2007 (and will not justify such levels for a long time), or (2) not big-law caliber. In this era of first year lawyers making $160k and partners always looking across the street for more money, firms are not going to carry dead weight..
The vast majority firms are firing attorneys - either through mass layoffs or the stealth variety. Rainmakers are not going to take pay cuts to keep lawyers billing 1200 hours per year sitting at their desks.
And now you know the rest of the story (of why OCI sucked this year).
The brutality has only just begun.
Sonnenschein has gotten so top heavy, the scale has tipped over and at the price of your hard working dedicated Indians. Not to many Indians left . . . Chiefs you are next!
Sonnenschein has gotten so top heavy, the scale has tipped over and at the price of your hard working dedicated Indians. Not to many Indians left . . . Chiefs you are next!
152,
I understand the argument that markets fully price-in future earnings. But I am suggesting that even at current PE's, companies are overvalued. See http://bigpicture.typepad.com/comments/2008/10/analysts-foreca.html
Moreover, when 4th quarter earnings come out, companies will have a better sense of the losses they face as a result of the credit crisis. That is when you will see more bankruptcies, layoffs and other restructurings, which will have a cascading effect on the economy.
PE ratios have further to fall, and that's why I think more pain is ahead in January.
-69
Holy Shit! Weil fired 12 NY bankruptcy associates!
rumor has it that Sidley NY will start laying off associates within the next 2 weeks. Probably non-litigation associates, but still.
86 -- Can we have more about the Fried Frank layoffs?
Latham has been stealth firing for quite a while now. They toned it down a bit last month but they appear to be stepping it up.
I wish the very best of luck to the laid off associates.
163 = fucktard
Its not about making hours anymore! Didn't you read the CC comment that said the lay off was random and affected ppl who were better than average.
NY to 120!!!!!
I'm not sure what the number is, but I was effected. Nov 1 is the last day for staff let go, but of course attorneys get more time to clear up their docket. With the market the way it is I am merely praying that I will find something soon. Some said this would be a good time to spend with the family, yes, but it is also a time to re-evaluate our budget.
About 45 Sonnenschein associates were booted. Some partners will no longer be getting full pay, but still must bill same hours. Even though they just opened a Zurich office, other offices may be closing.
But not to worry, in January the partners will still be partying at a resort in Vegas. Their retreat is still their priority.
Are DLA Piper Chicago layoffs confirmed?
The Sonnenschein layoffs affected "Approximately two dozen lawyers," according to Portnoy.
127 - where are these A&B layoff rumors coming from?
For all of those singing the praises of big firms and claiming that the biggest and best will not be laying off associates...you might as well admit that you are scared.
Meanwhile, at my small but strong litigation firm, business is increasing. We are hiring. I am having no trouble meeting and exceeding my hours.
174 - nothing to confirm. Nice try.
PPP=TTT
WTF does TTT mean?
Can someone list the names of SNR associates/staff/whoever that were laid off? And break it down by office, please.
El-Idiot (sorry) meant Elliot needs to give up and go away and get one of the adults back in charge
El-Idiot (sorry) meant Elliot needs to give up and go away and get one of the adults back in charge
El-Idiot (sorry) meant Elliot needs to give up and go away and get one of the adults back in charge
Saying it three times will make it come true!
DAAAAAAAMN!!!11
DAAAAAAAMN!!!11
Creditor the Clown's firm is hiring. Google it.
I just got laid off at Fried Frank-corporate dept.
189- How many people did they let go?
How is Charlotte office doing? I heard they got royally decimated, and that the Greedy Partners may be told in January to sling their hooks, regardless of huge Gaurantees. (Likewise with Dewey in Charlotte, and K & S needs to pull weight or they are pulling out also)
Any update? Did the Charlotte office survive?
Sonnenschein is doing just fine as a firm. Chairman Portnoy is leading a strategic makeover of the firm to include focus on differentiated practice strengths. Coupled with an economy in deep recession means that certain practices, lawyers and staff are at risk. In the end though this will be a better more strategically focused law firm that is survivor. Can the same be said of so many of these other delusional national firms who profess they have practice strength in everything and aspire to have New York firm profitability? I'd much rather be at a Sonnenschein than a delusional pretender like Bryan Cave or Squire Sanders that will be out of business in 5 years..
Sonnenschein is doing just fine as a firm. Chairman Portnoy is leading a strategic makeover of the firm to include focus on differentiated practice strengths. Coupled with an economy in deep recession means that certain practices, lawyers and staff are at risk. In the end though this will be a better more strategically focused law firm that is survivor. Can the same be said of so many of these other delusional national firms who profess they have practice strength in everything and aspire to have New York firm profitability? I'd much rather be at a Sonnenschein than a delusional pretender like Bryan Cave or Squire Sanders that will be out of business in 5 years..
Sonnenschein is doing just fine as a firm. Chairman Portnoy is leading a strategic makeover of the firm to include focus on differentiated practice strengths. Coupled with an economy in deep recession means that certain practices, lawyers and staff are at risk. In the end though this will be a better more strategically focused law firm that is survivor. Can the same be said of so many of these other delusional national firms who profess they have practice strength in everything and aspire to have New York firm profitability? I'd much rather be at a Sonnenschein than a delusional pretender like Bryan Cave or Squire Sanders that will be out of business in 5 years..
Seriously? 193, 194. Seriously you come on here with that crap? HOWEVER, at least they not as sneaky as Dechert.
Seriously? Is Elie really going to pretend he didn't have his ass handed to him by the commentators in the Dechert thread? Is he going to ignore the Dechert situation and have Kash write all the posts from now on?
http://abovethelaw.com/2008/10/dechert_layoff_exaggeration_but_caution.php
Sundontshine Charlotte has to be worried. No way they gonna last past xmas.
They will make it past Christmas. Those KS rats fleeced S for an awful lot of money. Can't see S willing to pull plug just yet.
The Dechert View on "layoffs":
"In my view, layoffs are when you decide to cut headcount. It's not when you decide to replace people with better people." -- Bart Winokur
Hey ATL -- SNR just did another round of stealth layoffs last week.
How many? Which offices were affected??