Nationwide Layoff Watch: Something Is Going Down At Akin Gump (Update: 47 associates and 57 staff laid off.)

We started hearing a lot of reports about impending layoffs at Akin Gump, earlier the week. One tipster put it succinctly:

Expect attorney and further staff layoffs this Friday.

Remember, Akin laid off 65 staffers in January. At the time, Akin indicated that there would be no attorney layoffs:

“There are no planned attorney layoffs,” said [Sheila Turner, a firm spokeswoman]. “But in these difficult times we of course expect to monitor the economy and staff the firm accordingly.”

Akin Gump did not respond to our inquires earlier this week.

Well, it is Friday. And we have been getting a lot of reports from other sources that layoffs are happening at Akin today.

Details after the jump.

Sponsored

So far today, we’ve heard things like:

Axes are falling at Akin Gump.

And:

Ahhhhhhh!!!!! Son of a B*****

Sponsored

But other tipsters believe that the layoffs will happen next week:

Akin Gump will doing a big round of attorney layoffs early next week. They have selected those who will be cut.

It would be great if Akin Gump would give some clarity about what exactly is going on there (and when), but the firm declined to respond to our inquiries today.

Obviously, we don’t have overall numbers on how deep these cuts will go.

But this late on a Friday, if I were at Akin I certainly wouldn’t answer the phone anymore today.

UPDATE: Akin Gump laid off 47 associates and 57 staffers today (March 6), according to the Texas Lawyer (via the ABA Journal).

Earlier: Staff Layoff Watch: A Roundup
Prior ATL coverage of law firm layoffs

Scissors Cut Money

Enter your email address to sign up for ATL's Layoff Alerts.