Layoffs, Severance

Nationwide Layoff Watch: Drinker Biddle

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Last year witnessed a Valentine’s Day Massacre in the legal profession. Over 800 lawyers and staffers lost their jobs in the week leading up to V-Day.
This year, the week before Valentine’s Day was comparatively full of sweetness and light — totally appropriate for the holiday of love. In fact, it looked like last week was layoff-free at the nation’s large law firms (as discussed over at Law Shucks).
But not quite. We can now report that layoffs took place on Friday at Drinker Biddle.


We understand that six to seven lawyers were laid off in Drinker Biddle’s Chicago office, which is the firm’s second-largest outpost. We don’t know if staffers were laid off as well, or if any layoffs took place in offices outside Chicago. If you have more details, please email us (subject line: “Drinker Biddle layoffs”).
The laid-off lawyers are getting severance — over three months, we hear. This is slightly above the median for large law firms, which tends to fall around the three-month mark (according to our informal survey of severance payments).
We reached out to the firm. “As a matter of firm policy, we do not comment publicly on personnel matters,” said a Drinker Biddle spokesperson.
Earlier: Prior ATL coverage of law firm layoffs

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