Nationwide Layoff Watch: Arent Fox Is Down 28 People Today
While a lot of the California firms have been laying off people in Washington, D.C., it’s been a little while since a D.C. based firm laid people off. But sadly, today Arent Fox had to let people go.
Managing partner William Charyk released this statement via a firm wide email:
During the early months of 2009, the adverse affects of the global economic downturn have continued to ripple through virtually every industry and business, including the legal profession. The sobering economic forecasts have forced many law firms — now including Arent Fox — to undertake a comprehensive and careful re-evaluation of market conditions and business structures, including actual and projected demand for services by clients in the coming year. After careful analysis and consideration following this review, we have made the difficult decision to downsize our associate, legal support and administrative ranks, resulting in the reduction of 13 associates and 15 staff members. These reductions will impact each of the Firm’s three offices.
In January, Arent Fox instituted a “solid ice” pay freeze, and eliminated bonuses for those who billed less the 1950 hours. But these are the first layoffs we’ve heard about from the firm.
Good luck to everybody in the D.C. market. I hear the government is still hiring.
Read the full Arent Fox statement after the jump.
ARENT FOX — STATEMENT — LAYOFFS
Dear Colleagues:
By now, you have likely learned that today the Firm took certain actions designed to preserve the long-term financial strength of Arent Fox LLP. These actions, which consisted of a reduction in the Firm’s legal and non-legal headcount, were taken after a lengthy and careful deliberation by the Firm’s leadership as we seek to deal with the most challenging economic climate for law firms any of us have faced in our professional lives.
During the early months of 2009, the adverse affects of the global economic downturn have continued to ripple through virtually every industry and business, including the legal profession. The sobering economic forecasts have forced many law firms — now including Arent Fox — to undertake a comprehensive and careful re-evaluation of market conditions and business structures, including actual and projected demand for services by clients in the coming year. After careful analysis and consideration following this review, we have made the difficult decision to downsize our associate, legal support and administrative ranks, resulting in the reduction of 13 associates and 15 staff members. These reductions will impact each of the Firm’s three offices.
All of the individual associates and staff members affected by the Firm’s decision have been notified and given the assurance that the Firm will offer severance benefits and other transitional support as they pursue new employment opportunities.
Today is a day our Firm had fervently hoped to avoid. Each attorney and staff member affected by this decision has been a valued and talented member of Arent Fox. Our Firm is, however, convinced that we have taken the necessary and appropriate steps to ensure the continued long-term financial health of Arent Fox during these unprecedented economic times. Most importantly, we strongly believe our actions will enable us to continue to deliver outstanding service and results to clients - who are also facing unique economic challenges - in the most effective and cost-efficient manner available.
Earlier: Nationwide Pay Freeze Watch: Arent Fox Takes This Opportunity to Bring Back Deferred Compensation
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:(
first to see that coming
Fox hunt!
These pretzels are making me thirdsty!
CHOMPERS THE CHIMP!
You just have to accept that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue.
This just in: unprestigious firm fires unprestigious associates. God these posts bore me.
They're bringing in a consultant - that's how I know. That's what this staff meeting is all about! That's what happened at Initrode last year. You have an interview with a consultant and they bring in efficiency experts. You're interviewing for your own job!
The severance package is ready, M'Lord.
Dear David Brent,
We're just not sure you're reading for the American mainstream. That Geico lizard on the other hand... can't wait to get him into production. Fancy a crisp?
Signed,
Jeff Zucker
W&C
Arent making any money either. ROFL
i knew 12 was coming when i clicked on this thread.
i still LOLed.
10: reading = ready
"Adverse affects"? What a dumbass. This dude is the managing partner?
Might want to proof a firm-wide email--"adverse affects"?!
It probably did not help their business that an Arent Fox partner was in the Washington Post every couple of months over whether he and/or his lovers killed an attorney in his rowhouse.
v5 stud = scrote
Seems like a disproportionate number of firms conducting layoffs have the letter "t" in their name. Coincidence, or predisposition?
What is the single most important thing for a company? Is it the building? Is it the stock? Is it the turnover? It's the people. The *people*. My proudest moment here wasn't when I increased profits by 17%, or cut expenditure without losing a single member of staff. No, no, no, no. It was a young Guatamalan guy, first job in the country, hardly spoke a word of English, but he came to me and he went "Mr. Scott, will you be the Godfather to my child?" Wow. *Wow.* Didn't work out in the end. We had to let him go. He sucked.
The ship be sinking...
http://abovethelaw.com/layoffs/
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090305/ap_on_bi_ge/states_foreclosures
http://www.google.com/finance?q=INDEXDJX%3A.DJI
http://www.google.com/finance?q=NYSE%3AC
http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/89xx/doc8990/toc.htm
Obamanomics: Change We Can Believe In!
Elie: "Good luck to everybody in the D.C. market. I hear the government is still hiring. "
What a backhanded, obnoxious comment. Go *&*& yourself.
What is an Arent Fox? Is it like a Rabid Fox?
ARENT Employed No Mo!
Please let's not turn yet another perfectly good layoff post into a Obama lover-Obama hater food fight.
First years? 3L treatment?
22 = Trig Palin
Elie, Please stop posting "news items" about these made-up firms just to spike your web traffic. Everyone knows there is no major law firm called Aren't Fox
Elie, Please stop posting "news items" about these made-up firms just to spike your web traffic. Everyone knows there is no major law firm called Aren't Fox
Damm you 25, arent you clever. making fun of people who arent working any more.
The God damn plane has crashed into the mountain.
Elie, Please stop posting "news items" about these made-up firms just to spike your web traffic. Everyone knows there is no major law firm called Aren't Fox
Something tells me these people ArenTTT going to be around for very much longer.
Please stop making fun of people who Arent employed anymore
"Smarter in Your World"
Seems not. At least if your world is proofreading.
The shit be stinking.
22: Yes, Obama found a way to depress global markets in less than two months. It is totally his fault.
Harlem was a paradise before then.
Abigail: “I feel sorry for all those people laid off from Arent Fox.”
Britanny: “YOU feel sorry for THEM? How about feeling sorry for ME! I’m joined for life to a bitch that won’t shut up about how sorry she feels for all the spoiled Ivy grads - who lost their silver spoon overpaid jobs that they never deserved in the first place, because they only billed 1600 hours and half of that was padded time anyway . . . wah wah wah!”
I like the conjoined twins, very funny.
They've been laying off associates for a few weeks already.
nervous 1L where are you? are you trembling in a corner somewhere?
37: clearly you have no idea how securities are priced. Asset values measure the PV of future cash flows. Future cash flows are determined, in considerable part, by macroeconomic law & policy. If rational investors thought the Obama plans were going to improve the economy as Obama promises they will, such investors would foresee an increase in future cash flows, which would cause demand to increase, which would cause the prices of securities to rise.
Obama didn't cause a lot of the problems, but Wall Street's verdict on his recent proposals is clear: he's going to cause a lot more problems.
-22
37: I'm not saying McCain would have done any better. It's also clear that Bush left a lot of economic wreckage in his wake. I just think it's time we all woke up from the stupor that Jon Favreau and his messianic mouthpiece Obama put the country under.
"I hear the government is still hiring."
Which government agencies are still hiring?
"t's also clear that Bush left a lot of economic wreckage in his wake."
Understatement of the week...
42 to the short bus!
Crap! Arent Fox is the official meeting location of the GULC Median Alumni Club.
42/22 = first year finance undergrad w/GULC fantasies
Can we all just sit back and agree that maybe Wall Street has done a lot of damage to its credibility?
It sucks that investors are giving Obama the thumbs down, but it also sucks that investors blithely invested in shitty assets and securities.
At present, I'd say it's far from clear whether Obama or the market is getting it right.
Anyone know if Arent Fox still has partner Joseph Price on the payroll?
The problem with the Federal government route is the sheer number of applicants pouring in right now to DoJ, DHS, FBI, CIA, SEC, Treasury, and the like. We have the combined factors of a big downturn for private firms, the normal spike in applications for any change in administrations, and interest in govt service that Obama's election has created among lawyers and law students.
I'm a military lawyer and anectodotally I'm getting wind of a huge spike in applications for JAG slots. Additionally, colleagues of mine who planned on leaving the military for the agencies above are experiencing long delays in the application/interview process despite the built-in advantage we get as veterans. These delays are the product , among other things, of the deluge of applications and unfilled political appointment slots in agencies (meaning applications that require senior official action are sitting there because the senior official hasn't been confirmed).
It's amazing how some people see internet anonymity as providing an opportunity to revel in the misfortune of others.
Here's hoping there really is such a thing as karma...
They let go associates and non-legal staff in the 1st round back in Nov./Dec. Then the firm let go of associates about 2 weeks ago (one of which was one of my attorneys). The firm promised us that there wouldn't be another round. Yeah, right! We all knew that there would be a 2nd round, but I guess we just didn't think it would be this soon! It happened around Noon today, the majority of the number of lay offs were in the DC office. I can tell you that it will probably happen again. I don't know how they choose who should go - a few were there for many years and a few who were only there a couple of months! I'm still there (thank God!), but the question is "for how long?" Oh well, at least they left with a couple of months of severance! Yeah right, and how long will that money last nowadays? The saga continues! More to come...
And no, Joe Price is no longer there! Don't miss him either and I hope the SOB goes straight to jail - under the foundation of a jail building!
is arent fox still holding on to that partner accused of murder?
I'm at AF and I heard nothing about Nov/Dec layoffs. How many were let go? It couldn't have been too many.
Arent Fox used to be one of the best places to work in DC. The atmosphere was very friendly, the compensation on par with anywhere else, the environment swanky and the work was interesting. Also, it was more of a lifestyle firm where you could do well without working every weekend or billing over 2150. I don't know how much it's changed in the last 3 years, but layoffs are definitely a new idea for the firm. Sad.
Anybody know which practice groups laid people off? Was it all real estate?
Agreed that it is a great firm. The layoffs were corporate and real estate... and the firm recognized the integrity and hard work of those laid off. It's just a sign of the times.
50, 54:
Price is reportedly on a leave of absence. See http://whomurderedrobertwone.com/the-defendants/joseph-price/
That doesn't necessarily mean that he isn't drawing from AF money that could otherwise have saved one of the poor layoffs.
42 - You are as stupid as the recently discredited "masters of the universe." The market did not tank because they just woke up and found out that Obama might raise taxes (which would already have been priced as the election progressed in his favor). What is happening in fact has almost nothing to do with Obama's policies and everything to do with one of the greatest debt bubbles / misallocation of resources this country has ever experienced. What wall street woke up to was that the banks are completely insolvent and the government is not going to bail the equity investors out, as that was the risk they took. Try again!
Anybody who tries to blame the economic meltdown on Obama is not worth addressing. That's just moronic.
50, 54, 60 - Joe Price's office computer was loaded with gay porn according to one of the docs on the wone blog -
http://whomurderedrobertwone.com/legal-documents/
63, it would be nice if ATL had covered Price a little more. If nothing else, it's an illustration of how hard it is to fire a partner - porn on the office computer, man mysteriously killed at the partner's house, partner accused on obstruction of justice. Meanwhile, his firm responds by....laying off associates.
Arent Fox may be the worst AmLaw firm in the country
64 - This case involving price has plenty of bold face legal names who are or have been involved. Eric Holder for instance... Before being tapped for AG he represented Wone's widow in the wrongful death suit.
Employed employee at Arent Fox says:
Price's PC was taken away for investigations. 1st round of layoffs were 20 total in Nov./Dec. 2nd round yesterday was 28. Special commitee(s) were formed/are formed to reorganize and restructure practices. More news to come...
61/62: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=washingtonstory&sid=aGJ_.gr_awkY
Also, 61: did you get your talking points directly from Robert Gibbs, or was there an intermediary? You've strung together so many unconnected financial terms that you're making about as much sense as McCain did when he suggested firing Cox because the banks failed (pop quiz: who regulates banks in the US?). Also, you might consider looking up the difference between liquidity and solvency. Liquidity first caused the financial problems, not insolvency.
No wonder the economy is heading down the toilet. Our "good schools" are filled with finance-retarded political shills.
-22
50, 54, 55, 60 - Joseph Price is on paid leave during his legal "difficulties". One does wonder though if he will return if found innocent considering the S&M porn found on his office computer. Add that to the BDSM photos and video of himself found on his home computer and disclosed in police investigative reports....
69 - Wow, so, just to summarize:
1) Man dies in the house of Arent Fox partner Jospeh Price under questionable circumstances.
2) Police investigate Arent Fox partner Jospeh Price, and find sadomasochistic pornography on his work computer.
3) Arent Fox partner Joseph Price is arrested and placed on PAID leave from Arent Fox.
4) Arent Fox lays off associates.
You stay classy Arent Fox.
Rumor has it that this is not over yet for Arent Fox. I have heard that more cuts are planned before April and that they will be made in every practice group.
I thought there were S&M pictures of himself on Joe Price's office computer. Well, either way, it looks like he was working hard in his office.
If I were a laid-off associate at that firm, I'd be so pissed to hear how much money Price has continued to be paid during his leave.
Justice for Robert Wone!
www.whomurderedrobertwone.com
Something tells me that its contractual obligations, not sympathy or empathy, that keeps Price on AF's payroll. I'll bet that the rest of the partners would be very happy to dump him and pretend like he never existed. In fact, I'm sure they're not too happy about any of it. It's pretty bad publicity for the firm.
Price was let go at Arent in January but it was only recently reported by the Legal Times and mentioned here on the wone murder blog:
http://whomurderedrobertwone.com/2009/04/30/outfoxed/