Incisive Media, Layoffs

Nationwide Layoff Watch: A Top Ten List, Some Things We Missed, Other Sundries

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AmLaw is out today with a carnage top ten. They list the firms that have conducted the deepest layoffs by percentage of total associates.

Orrick leads the way, its two rounds of layoffs (in November and on Tuesday) nailed nearly 20% of the firm’s associates.

But is Orrick’s position in the top spot a little unfair? There is every indication that Orrick tied every single one of its layoffs to the economic crisis. Many firms (most firms?) simple cannot say the same. Take a firm like Latham, which ranks fifth on AmLaw’s list, laying off just over ten percent of its associates last week. But the 190 attorneys cut last week doesn’t take into account the stealth layoffs we’ve discussed. The firm has still not directly denied these “stealth” moves to Above the Law, despite our numerous inquiries.

The whole performance based or “stealth” layoff question reminds me of the great debate going on in Major League Baseball over performance enhancing drugs. Everybody is a suspect because so few people will admit the obvious.

More from the layoff list after the jump.


The lack of transparency when it comes to layoffs might account for this interesting fact that AmLaw noted:

But what’s surprising about the data is that New York firms barely made the Top Ten layoff list. (Only Proskauer Rose, with 35 associate layoffs, squeezed into the tenth position.) That’s especially striking when you consider that New York sits at the epicenter of the financial meltdown, and New York firms are reputed to be tough and mean.

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Proskauer cut just over six percent of its associates. But there is simply no way that six percent represents the high water mark for New York firms conducting layoffs. You might not be able to see a B-2 bomber on radar, but that doesn’t make it any less real when its payload deploys on your house.

We’ll continue to try to expose stealth layoffs where they occur. But there have been other firms that announced significant reductions that we glossed over the past couple of days.

Clifford Chance is looking to fire 115 staffers in London. The Lawyer reported yesterday:

The firm is envisaging making between 105 and 115 business support staff redundant.

A spokesperson said that Clifford Chance’s overseas offices would “continue to review their resources in light of economic conditions”.

When a magic circle firm starts cutting people in its London office, how long can it be before those reductions travel to the U.S.?

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Meanwhile, yesterday we pointed out that Texas firms seem to be weathering the financial crisis as well as anybody. As soon as we wrote that, Texas Lawyer reported that Andrews Kurth laid off 20 people over the past couple of weeks:

The two former associates say at least 20 Andrews Kurth lawyers were asked to leave.

The firm gave the lawyers several weeks to look for new jobs, say the two former associates and three recruiters, who request anonymity.

At least seven of the laid-off associates were from the firm’s corporate department, the two former associates say.

“It was all economic,” says one of the former associates.

This probably won’t be our last layoff post of the day.

Orrick Leads in Percentage of Associates Cut [AmLaw Daily]

Clifford Chance to cut 115 London support staff jobs [The Lawyer]

Layoffs at Andrews Kurth [Texas Lawyer]

Earlier: Prior ATL coverage of law firm layoffs

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