Nationwide Layoff Watch: Biglaw Firm Lays Off 30+

Sagging litigation business blamed for another round of layoffs.

onMarch 18, 2015 at 4:22 PMMarch 19, 2015 at 12:33 PM

GOODWIN PROCTER — OFFICES OF THE CHAIRMAN AND THE MANAGING PARTNER, DAVID M. HASHMALL AND ROBERT S. INSOLIA — FIRMWIDE ANNOUNCEMENT

The legal industry continues to see a decline in demand for litigation services, driven by – among other factors – clients resolving cases more quickly and handling them in house more frequently. Against this background, Goodwin Procter continues to grow. However, the composition of work that is driving our growth is changing in line with the market. While many of our practices are outperforming, some are contracting. The net effect is that – as a whole – our business is expanding, despite the overall market decrease in demand for litigation services.

After carefully and realistically assessing the projected demand for services in the various areas of our litigation practice, we made the hard choice to undertake a reduction in force, affecting 21 associates and professional track attorneys, and 17 professional staff across our litigation department. While the overall impact on our attorney and professional staff headcount is only 2 percent, this was a very difficult decision for us to make. Nonetheless, we believe that this step was necessary as we project a systemic change in the market for litigation services.

Sponsored

The Business Case For AI At Your Law Firm

ChatGPT ushers in the age of generative AI – even for law firms.

From THOMSON REUTERS

Goodwin Procter is actively hiring for transactional positions at this time, and will provide impacted attorneys with the opportunity to apply for these positions, seeking to place as many as possible. For those attorneys not placed elsewhere in the firm, as well as for the impacted professional staff, we are providing severance packages and outplacement assistance and transition support.

Per the firm’s policy, please direct any media inquiries that you may receive regarding this announcement to Konstantin Shishkin, Director of Communications, at 212-459-7176 or kshishkin@goodwinprocter.com.