We love to point out when our commenters point us in the right direction. Over the weekend, somebody placed this comment in the recent Law Shucks post:
Hunton & Williams is planning big layoff in week ahead. The firm has been laying off PARTNERS in stealth moves during the past two months and a firm-wide meeting is scheduled for this week. Expect big staff cuts since those attorneys are no longer around.
In response, one of our tipsters did some checking:
Saw a comment under the law shucks story that Hunton was having a firm-wide meeting this week. Came in and checked today, [rooms have been reserved] by Human Resources from 11:30 to 1:00…. on Friday.
Hunton & Williams did not respond to our requests for comment. But there are a lot of issues that the firm might choose to address this coming Friday.
We’ll get into our other tipsters’ reports after the jump.
We’ve received all kinds of tips and even phone calls about Hunton & Williams over the past couple of weeks. Here’s what we are able to report from our multiple sources:
* The firm has offered the staff an early retirement program. It is unclear how many people have signed up to be voluntarily mothballed, but the deadline for accepting the offer is March 31st.
* The Hunton fiscal year ends on March 31st.
* The firm recently froze associate salaries.
* The firm recently informed 3Ls that start dates for incoming first years have been pushed back (we’re not sure how far back yet).
Just walking associates through all of this could easily warrant 90 minutes on a Friday. But haven’t we seen this before? After a firm freezes salaries, delays first years, and tries to get people to agree to fall on their own swords, there is really only one thing left for Hunton to do if it still needs to cut costs.
Earlier: Prior ATL coverage of start dates
