Nationwide Layoff Watch: A Round-Up
A couple of layoffs, potential layoffs, and staff layoffs came in under the radar yesterday, so let’s get to it.
There was an all associates meeting a Mintz Levin Tuesday. The reports coming out of the meeting indicate that Mintz Levin management “admitted that they had been conducting stealth layoffs” over the past few months.
If you admit to stealth layoffs, are they still stealth?
While you ponder that metaphysical problem, our sources also reported the specific number of people that had been stealthily fired. But when we asked Mintz Levin spokespeople if stealth layoffs had occurred, we were told that our sources were incorrect. According to a Mintz Levin spokesperson:
The recent all associate meeting which happened on Tuesday is a regularly scheduled meeting that occurs after the end of the firm’s fiscal year, which occurred Saturday March 28th.
So maybe everything is okay over at Mintz.
After the jump, some confirmed layoff news.
We do know that there were additional staff layoffs at Quinn Emanuel yesterday. Quinn laid off “a handful” of associates in March. The National Law Journal reports that the firm cut 10 staffers, this week:
Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges laid off 10 staff members this week, according to firm partner William Urquhart.Urquhart, in an e-mail to The National Law Journal, said that no lawyers had been laid off. He declined to comment further.
Finally Vedder Price, a mid-sized firm in Chicago, announced that they laid off nine associates in March:
The dismissals, which amounted to about 3% of the firm’s former head count, were mainly in Vedder’s transactional practice area, which had slowed as a result of the recession, said Michael Ralston, a spokesman for the firm in Chicago. Of the lawyers affected, eight were in Chicago and one was in New York, he said.
March was such a bad month for the legal industry that its layoff news is still trickling into April.
Despite sizable revenue gains, Quinn Emanuel cuts staff [National Law Journal]
Vedder Price lays off nine associates [National Law Journal]
The Month in Layoffs - March 09 [Law Shucks]
Earlier: Nationwide Layoff Watch: Quinn Cuts ‘A Handful of People’
(53) Comments
Comments
Couldn't have happened to a better guy.
Let me be the second to say that these are dismissals, not layoffs. Those downsized are never being called back.
You lowly associates have three choices: start your own damn firm, work in a pizza shop, or suck it where you are now until you too are dismissed. But you all are docile wethers and are only capable of the last two choices.
Sucks to be you.
Suck it Quinn Remains
When all is said and done, how much will the legal industry have shrunk from its (largest) size in 2007? We seem to be nearing the 10% mark now, if you look at headcount only. Will we go to 15% 20%? Will revenue and/or profits follow? Is there a floor below which even flagging economic activity cannot reduce demand for legal services?
I'd love to see a full on post done about the steady stream of stealth layoffs at Thompson Hine. What exactly are we supposed to submit as a tip to get a story done on this? Stealth layoffs by their very nature don't include memos/NDA's/etc...
But, until there is a full post entry, let me just remind anyone that cares that Thompson Hine has been doing stealth layoffs for at least 6 months, cut associate pay by 1/6th, AND did announced layoffs.
It's a shithole and I hate it here! Please kill me.
-Rogue Associate
We're all mungered at this point.
Every time I read this site, I realize just how mungered I am.
Let's not Mintz words. This firm is a TTT.
I am sooooo mungry right now, I didn't have any lunch.
Mintz may be ttt, but they just hit the lottery against Microsoft.
The ship be sinking...
5, I would care, but I've never heard of Thompson Hine. I can't explain why but that sounds liks an Ohio firm to me.
Same goes for Mintz Levin. Usually Elie adds a brief description to fill you in, e.g., Vedder Price, a mid-sized firm in Chicago. Is there a reason I should know about Mintz Levin?
Mintz Levin sounds Jewish so I'm guessing very small NYC firm?
Shipman & Goodwin in Hartford CT laid off 5 associates and delayed some its Fall 09 Associates. No explanation for who got delayed
10/Michael Ray, how far can it sink?
I used to beat up a kid in high school whose name was Mintz Levin all the time, it was no big deal.
No news is Goodwin news.
13 - not Michael Ray, but the sky is the limit
Thompson Hine is an Ohio firm. The partners have run this firm into a brick wall - trying to pretend we are Jones Day - and we have a freaking major office in Dayton, Ohio!
It's a joke. Lot's of us came on b/c we figured it was a good place to work just outside the AmLaw 100... you know, 90% of the pay and 90% of the hours, that sort of notion.
Instead, everyone gets a 1/6th paycut and the hours are retarded crazy now that the layoffs have kicked into an even higher gear. For most associates the cut was $17,500/yr, though I hear some groups got hit harder.
The litigation side of the firm is complete small-ball bullshit, and the deal work is very cookie cutter (many deals all junior associates get to do is change the names, places, dates, proper nouns, etc.
I'm not surprised you've never heard of it. Sad for myself, but not surprised.
Btw, 17 is my comment = 5 = Rogue Associate, and I was responding to 11.
-Rogue Associate
Shipman & Goodwin Lays Off 26
CT Law Tribune
By DOUGLAS S. MALAN
Shipman & Goodwin, which has four offices in Connecticut, announced Friday that it has cut five attorneys, five paralegals and 16 support staff in a “difficult and unfortunate” move, according to a statement from managing partner Scott Murphy.
Murphy further stated that the reductions were tied to the larger economic slowdown and the resulting decrease in demand for legal services. The layoffs were made “only after cutting other costs,” Murphy noted. In a telephone conversation, Murphy declined to elaborate on the layoffs and said the released statement was the only statement he would make on the matter.
Shipman & Goodwin, which was founded in 1919, has approximately 145 lawyers now and is known for its business and education practices. The firm represents 80 of the state’s 156 school boards, and represents other clients throughout New England and the Mid-Atlantic region.•
ML---active in IP, solid Boston office, looking to build restructuring practice. Pedestrian NY office.
Munger
11 - it is actually a fairly well regarded Boston firm - Paddy O'Mintz and Mick O'Levin were the founders. They dropped the Irish spelling of their names when the firm first entered the NY market...
Rogue Associate --
How much did Thompson Hine pay before the 1/6th salary cut? Their NALP form says "TBD" for 2009 salary.
20,
Mintz gave me mints. and they weren't even real altoids or something. they were some bootleg chalky crap.
FAIL
Chicago Law School produces the most marketable graduates in the country. Discuss.
Why is everyone being so mean to me today?
Oceans rise, cities fall, MinTTTz remains...
How do I know if I am prestigious?
If you have to ask, you're not prestigious.
Deez Nuts are prestigious.
Your mom knit me a sweater once that said 'Prestigious' on it.
Suck it.
Prestige starts as organic matter, goes inside and comes out again as organic matter. So look for your prestige in the toilet, tough guy!
Can anyone confirm whether or not there were Minty fresh layoffs?
Prestigious = getting pounded in the ass by the entire mail room at Mintz Levin
24 --
I actually developed an addiction to the Mintz mints during OCI. It became kind of a problem.
23,
It varied by office, but (for first years) it was basically as follows:
Dayton - $115k (why would they pay this much in Dayton???)
Cincinnati - $115k
Cleveland - $120 or $125
Atlanta/NYC/DC - each paying $10k to $25k less than top of market.
23,
It varied by office, but (for first years) it was basically as follows:
Dayton - $115k (why would they pay this much in Dayton???)
Cincinnati - $115k
Cleveland - $120 or $125
Atlanta/NYC/DC - each paying $10k to $25k less than top of market.
-Rogue Associate
23,
It varied by office, but (for first years) it was basically as follows:
Dayton - $115k (why would they pay this much in Dayton???)
Cincinnati - $115k
Cleveland - $120 or $125
Atlanta/NYC/DC - each paying $10k to $25k less than top of market.
-Rogue Associate
23 -- It varies from office to office. But first years received slightly below market in most of the major markets (e.g., $145k in ATL/NYC/DC).
In Ohio, it was lower but varied even within the state (CLE was $120k, CINCY and DAY were $115k).
I haven't done anything but straight NDAs and doc reviews since I've gotten here.
-Rogue Associate
Also, I don't really understand why 36-38 would impersonate me, and then simply answer a question asked of me accurately. That is just weird.
-Rogue Associate
Where is the best place to get a nice dish of duckasslobster?
I'm not an L&E attorney, but I see a big problem with these firms choosing when they admit to layoffs. If you got stuck in layoffs back in the fall of 2008 when they were not admitting it, you have some explaining to do in interviews now. Seems that firms that entered into mutual termination agreements with those laid off employees are in breach if they publically announce that only 2009 layoffs were due to economy but hinting that prior layoffs were due to performance.
Miles & Stockbridge (Baltimore) - all associates taking 6-10% paycuts and 8 staff members terminated, last week.
I know of one real estate associate who was laid off by that firm over the summer. There are plenty of other firms, including firms in the city not identified by this blog who have stealthily laid off a number of associates and counsel over the last 8 months, especially firms with relatively large real estate practices.
17 - That sounds like the Milwaukee firms and Foley.
Linklaters has become the latest firm to push back its trainee start dates in response to the recession, with the magic circle firm offering future trainees £10,000 to defer for a year.
The firm is offering all those in its September 2009 and March 2010 intakes the opportunity to defer, with the firm planning to select 15 deferrals from across the two intakes.
25 - no such institution.
OCEANS RISE
CITIES FALL
QUINN RE-WHAT THE-
*commits hari kari*
Mintz fires pregnant associates.
Littler Mendelson has reduced salaries of associates
Littler Mendelson has reduced salaries of associates
To those who think Thompson Hine is alone:
That firm is not alone in dismissing associates by way of stealth layoffs. I work in Atlanta, and I can tell you that it is happening at my firm and other firms here in town. But, when I talk to my friends in the business world, and they ask me why this is happening and what's the big deal, I explain the following:
Big law firms cannot stand negative publicity because, as business organizations, they are inherently unstable and prone to dissolution at the drop of a dime (see Heller, Thelen, etc.). For those who ask, "But what about all of the layoffs?", my only response is that there is safety in numbers (both in terms of acting at roughly the same time as other firms and not making the number of laid off associates too high).
Once bad news gets out, it's sort of like a vicious cycle at that point. Imagine you're a client with a big piece of litigation or a huge transactional matter to assign, and you then find out that one of your "go-to firms" is having financial difficulties. While you may still give them the work, the negative news may give you a sense of pause. For some, it will cause the client to refer the matter to another firm. And, this is the point of the stealth layoff. It allows the firm to do what it needs to do, without any of the bad press, negative impact on morale, potential loss of business etc.
A friend of mine talked about this with an L&E partner at her firm. According to her. the partner explained that the firm was well aware of the problems that the recent rounds of announced layoffs have had on morale, and that the firm did not want to do any more layoffs.
This conversation took place back in February. Anybody paying attention realizes that firm collections are in the shitter. If that continues, how do you think firms are going to go about the business of getting rid of people? You guessed it: stealth layoffs.
Proceeding down that road allows management to kill two birds with one stone: first, it allows managment to assuage the concerns of remaining associates by saying, "Don't worry about those folks leaving the building. They were underperformers."; and, second it allows the Firm to give off the appearance that it is well managed because they pegged the number of staff reductions just right in February or March, even though nothing could be further from the truth.
Basically, they're content with ruining people's lives in an effort to try and save their own asses. Members of the bar, indeed. Pathetic.
--Welcome to Atlanta
What is TTT? ATL needs a glossary for us newbies - unless there is one already??