Layoffs

Orrick Plays 'Hide the Logic' During AmLaw Interview

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The legal community is still buzzing with reaction to the news of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe’s layoffs of 40 attorneys — while White & Case sacrifices blood and treasure to the altar of “good timing.”

We don’t want to pile onto Orrick, we know a lot of good people that work there. But Ralph Baxter’s interview with the AmLaw Daily today is … a little weird.

Yesterday, we noted that Orrick’s layoffs come a month after they acquired a bunch of Heller Ehrman partners. Baxter addressed that issue specifically with AmLaw … depending on your definition of “addressed”:

What do you say to people who will look at your decision to hire 27 former Heller attorneys in early October, a month before this decision?

You take these two facts together (the Heller hirings and the layoffs), and you get a focused picture of Orrick. We’re bullish about the future, bullish about the role of lawyers in global finance, and we are boldly taking action to diversify Orrick’s practice. All of the Heller lawyers who joined us were in practice areas that are litigation-oriented. Compared with the layoffs, it’s apples and oranges. They are mostly partners, and they bring business with them.

Allow me to translate:

You see, there are these things called Apples. And man, let me tell you, Apples are the future. But unfortunately, there are these other things called Oranges, and Oranges are so obsolete, so yesterday. Really, IN THE FUTURE, the only thing Oranges will be good for is Juice. So we said, screw it man, let’s make some Juice. Let’s make some now! Because the future is now. Apples and Pulp bro’. Don’t sleep.

Other highlights from Baxter’s interview after the jump.

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Baxter also addressed the contention that the firm did “everything they could” to avoid layoffs:

You’ve mentioned you did your best to cut costs and move attorneys around, out of the areas hit by the lay offs–real estate, corporate and structured finance. What steps precisely did the firm take?

For example, we cut out all non-essential travel at all our offices around the world. We told people, “Do it another way, even if it’s not optimal.” We postponed the biannual meetings each practice group has, where all the lawyers from each group travel to one place to meet. We stopped all associate hiring and we postponed hiring certain staff positions. We also shifted some people to other practice areas. A couple went to Hong Kong. It all amounted to a lot of money, but when it was all said and done, the numbers told us we still had a problem. In this economy, no practice area is so robust it’s just bursting at the seams.

There is really only one way to tell if Orrick did “everything” to save jobs. Last year profits per partner were $1.67 million. Yesterday, a tipster told us that the goal was to keep PPP over $1.5 million. So it’ll be pretty interesting when the 2008 PPP numbers come out. Then we’ll see just how much the firm did to protect jobs.

Not that I want to make the blasphemous mistake of comparing two different kinds of fruit, but you have to at least wonder if a high PPP was important to the 27 Heller partners that came over.

Not that those new Heller hires have anything to do with yesterday’s layoffs, of course.

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Orrick’s Baxter: In This Economy, No Practice Area is So Robust it’s Bursting at the Seams [AmLaw Daily]

Earlier: Howrey and Reed Smith: Latest Beneficiaries of Thelen’s Shutdown

Nationwide Layoff Watch: Orrick Lays Off Attorneys

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