Nationwide Layoff Watch: Akerman Senterfitt
Some of you have been asking for layoff news. Be careful for what you wish for; you might just get it.
There’s not a lot going on these days in terms of lawyer layoffs. The rate of job loss in the broader economy is slowing, and perhaps the legal economy is getting better too.
But we do have a small amount of layoff news to report. In response to ATL inquiries, a spokesperson for the Florida-based firm of Akerman Senterfitt stated that it laid off five associates (out of more than 150 associates at the firm). We heard that first-year associates were affected; the firm confirmed that two out of the five were first-years.
If there’s layoff news at your firm that we’ve missed, please email us. Thanks.
(53) 
Comments
Comments hidden for your protection. Show them anyway!
What's an Akerman Senterfitt?
ho hum
I won't mention the name of the firm for privacy reasons, but a local law firm just laid off 6 associates. Anybody have any theories as to why the legal economy is acting the way it is?
My Ackerman does not senterFitt in my secretary's tight ass.
Boom!
There will certainly be some more layoffs after all the summer programs are over and firms have to decide on offers.
Cue all of the moaning from the Latham trolls.
#3 - It's called socialism. Thanks Obama.
Corporate socialism is being laid off by your company while it enjoys record profits thanks to the Dow and having no health care.
Yay Republicans!
8, a business trying to maximize its profits for its owners is "socialism"? Okay whatever you say.
Businesses should not be allowed to profit so long as there are poor voters, duh.
Latham just laid off 30 more white people.
Why doesn't Obama just hire everyone, and give all of us health insurance?
Thompson Hine laid off Rogue Associate.
Capitalism serves the people and not the other way around.
#12 - Obama is hiring more brown shirts as we speak. Please submit your application to ACORN, SEIU or any other union.
You will be expected to assault anyone who dissents.
12, he's too busy creating 3 million jobs. Wait a few weeks and then he can create another 197 million jobs.
Shortened firm name
ManFitt
Relying on elderly brownshirts who rely on Medicare to disrupt town hall meetings has not proven to be a benefit for the GOP's declining fortunes.
The GOP central committee is now meeting to consider why.
Should I bother signing up for Order of the Coif? Any thoughts on the practical value of yet another law school honor and line on a resume.
Order of the Coif should be useful when applying for unemployment benefits, yes.
Damn Bush and his socialism getting us into this recession! I assume you mean Bush, considering it was under his watch that the most severe economic downturn since the Great Depression began, not to mention the downfall of Bear Stearns, Merrill Lynch, and Lehman Brothers. And prior to Obama coming into office, there was no end in sight and things were getting worse at a progressively faster pace each month.
Anybody know the seafood dish that Maine is famous for?
If we all say brownshirt and socialism enough times and click our heels together, surely we'll get out of this recession! Correct me if I'm wrong, but that is the Republican plan, no? If there is some concrete policy proposal that the Republicans have put forward to help us out of this recession, by all means point us to it.
Shortened firm name: Man Sent
23, it's called low taxes, minimal governmental intervention, economic incentives, fiscal discipline, and a balanced budget. And lots of free trade.
It's that-a-way -->
First time reading the comments in a while and realize why you now hide them, Lat. Do you ever have second thoughts about leaving Wachtel to teach in middle school?
17 - Everytime I pump my boyfriend its a ManFitt
The ship be sinking...
The comments on this blog make me embarrassed to be a lawyer. Seriously - grow up.
25 - When's the last time the government got smaller under a Republican president? It wasn't under Nixon, Ford, Reagan, George H.W. Bush, or George W. Bush. When was the last time a Republican president exercised fiscal discipline? Reagan pioneered enormous federal deficits in this country and George W. Bush did his part to keep that legacy alive. Empty rhetoric only gets you votes for so long before people wise up.
lol lat
"There's not a lot going on these days in terms of lawyer layoffs. The rate of job loss in the broader economy is slowing, and perhaps the legal economy is getting better too."
a raw reduction in number of layoffs without any new jobs being created to offset current and previous layoffs = lawyer economy getting better? maybe you can use the numbers to prove that the rate of contraction is being reduced but to say the economy with respect to lawyers is getting better is pretty flawed.
19, I doubt it will help you. Firms don't need to hire tools in this economy to meet the work demands of clients.
Paul Hastings just let go some attorneys.
Paul Hastings just let go some attorneys.
Obama is too far to the right.
The only way to thwart corporate greed is through a maximum wage (99% tax on all income above a certain threshold, e.g., $100,000) and a wealth tax. Redistribute the revenue to residents on a per capita basis as a social dividend.
Well, the comments here are all dumb. I am certainly sure that I would not like to work with many of you kids.
The Akerman thing is significant. They are one of the two firms in Miami. Yes, they have a lot of other offices, but those are just stupid. I think they have one in Madison, Wisconsin. Great for a south Florida law firm.
Akerman is not a firm that has associates. Everybody is a shareholder of one level or another. It's management is best described as preening pigs. That they are laying off associates is very significant. One wonders what Greenberg is doing, and they really do have associates.
Holland & Knight could be considered a third firm in S. Florida, but nobody thinks so.
If Akerman is doing that badly it has to be due to 1) bad management (used cars come to mind, also Bryl Creame); 2) the fact that Miami has no corporations to speak of; or 3) the old rain makers are not letting go with their clients, or accepting salary decreases.
But they are a good firm with some very good-- if not exceptional-- lawyers.
I don't know, but I suspect that the associates who were let go were the product of bad management.
Thank you @36 for restoring some order. I miss the days when ATL was a forum for outrageous BigLaw gossip, not inane political pseudopunditry.
Lol, a friend at HK just sent me an e-mail saying that one can tell who the most successful corporate partners are in Miami by the size of their ass.
She must know, but it scares me to know how.
Cooley Godward did another round of firmwide layoffs this last week and shafted 20+ associates, but is trying to keep them stealth so they can sell new hires on "Cooley Culture."
Any more information about offer rates? Or firms not telling summer associates about offers until after OCI - or even January?
i like this phrases "But we do have a small amount of layoff news to report"
33 - Which PHJW offices laid off attys?
Who cares.
Because Biglaw is small in SFL, i think its underestimated how bad or how hard hit Miami/FtL/WestPalm are getting hit by this crisis. In terms of percentage im sure its worse than NYC or LA or ATL
Because Biglaw is small in SFL, i think its underestimated how bad or how hard hit Miami/FtL/WestPalm are getting hit by this crisis. In terms of percentage im sure its worse than NYC or LA or ATL
Cooley Culture = salsa & chips for free, but we lay off your ass at the first sniff of trouble to our asshole reject partners who we hired in a failed faustian pact to try to diversify our VC/IP practices.
Atta boy, Joe.
Rumor is that the Miami office cut two former summers and an associate just back from maternity leave - stay classy!
Akerman, I hear has a horrible policy with maternity leave. They pretend to be good, and actually their policy is very liberal. The problem is that you can't get back on track. If you take 3 months off (which sensible people don't), your salary will be cut by at least a third. The next year your hours will be averaged and you will earn below your class. The following year you will be RIFED for not having generating clients or on a three year average you are below billing standards.
I heard a story of one partner who adopted two or three kids from some foreign country. She took exactly a weekend off. She told her colleagues that she was lucky because the kids could play with themselves. I don't know if that story is true, but if you get 3 new kids, one would hope that you would have some adustment/bonding time.
leave. They pretend to be good, and actually their policy is very liberal. The problem is that you can't get back on track. If you take 3 months off (which sensible people don't), your salary will be cut by at least a third. The next year your hours will be averaged and you will earn below your class. The following year you will be RIFED for not having generating clients or on a three year average you are below billing standards.
I heard a story of one partner who adopted two or three kids from some foreign country. She took exactly a weekend off. She told her colleagues that she was lucky because the kids could play with themselves. I don't know if that story is true, but if you get 3 new kids, one would hope that you would have some adustment/bonding time.
Sorry, I screwed up on that post.
Keep an eye on Paul Hastings. Within the next 6-9 months, real estate will be virtually non-existent.
Akerman is mostly known for being the number one Hispanic friendly place to work. It is employment of last resort for any non-Latino.
The firm is known for its poor quality work product and is hired mostly by other Latinos.
51 - PHJW corporate is not far behind. This firm is rapidly becoming a tax and litigation only shop. So much for PH50. So much for 15-10. Oh well...