Layoffs

Nationwide Layoff Watch: Paul Hastings Lays Off 131 in Round 3

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At the beginning of February, we reported that Paul Hastings laid off a number of associates in its Atlanta office. At the end of February, the firm laid off some people in Los Angeles (and Shanghai). But it looks like today, Paul Hastings is laying off a much larger group of people. Here is the official statement from the firm:

In light of the deteriorating global financial market, we have announced today a regretted but necessary step of reducing our workforce by 44 associates and 87 staff. We are appreciative of our colleagues’ contributions to the Firm during their tenure. Affected employees have been offered severance benefits to ease their transition.

The news is pouring in from all of the firm’s offices, but the deepest cuts seem to be in Atlanta.

We understand that the firm is firing first years today as well.

On Monday, our sources started alerting us to a firm wide meeting that is scheduled for 11:00 am Wednesday. We understood that meeting to be the standard yearly meeting where associates received their bonuses. But now, there should be a lot more to talk about. A (laid off) tipster reports:

If PH screws me out of my bonus, I’m going to [vague threat] that f****** [specific threat]. Also [general anger].

Read the internal firm wide memo after the jump.

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PAUL HASTINGS — MEMO — LAYOFFS

Although the Firm achieved a steady financial result in 2008, over the past six months client demand has declined, particularly in transactional disciplines, which have been hit hardest by the deteriorating global financial markets. Our clients are deeply affected by the severe and protracted global recession, and, unfortunately, we cannot predict any material improvement in 2009 and expect 2010 to be a challenging year as well for law firms and their clients.

Accordingly, today we have completed a regretted but necessary step of reducing our workforce in the United States by 44 associates and 87 staff. Based on our analysis, we believe at this time these economic reductions are sufficient to align these staffing levels to our current and anticipated client demand.

We appreciate our colleagues’ contributions to the Firm during their tenure. They will be eligible for severance, healthcare benefits and outplacement services.

The actions we have announced today are necessary to ensure the continuing health and competitiveness of the Firm, as well as our ability to provide excellent service and value to our clients. Thank you all for your hard work and contributions to the Firm and our clients as we navigate through these challenging times.

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Earlier: Nationwide Layoff Watch: Paul Hastings Takes Layoffs to L.A.

Nationwide Layoff Watch: Paul Hastings Atlanta Lays Off 15% of Its Associates

Prior ATL coverage of law firm layoffs

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