Biglaw, Layoffs

Dechert Lets Multiple Associates Go After Performance Reviews

We may be entering a rough spell for the legal profession.

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layoffsWhen Seyfarth Shaw announced layoffs earlier this month — cutting associates, staff, and even partners — we wondered if the sluggish legal market might finally be catching up to some firms. Perhaps the flurry of salary increases last year had pushed firms to the point where a bad quarter here or there elicits swift and unfortunate action.

So when we started hearing reports that Dechert had also commenced layoffs in multiple offices, we worried that Seyfarth may have just been the beginning of a new wave of cutbacks.

As it turns out, Dechert’s layoffs pale in comparison to Seyfarth’s. Indeed, a firm spokesperson noted that headcount is actually up from a year ago. Last week’s performance reviews just took a toll, and several people were let go:

The Firm continues to do well. We regularly review and give feedback to our associates as well as evaluate the needs of our clients in different practice areas and locations. There have been no major layoffs at the Firm; in fact, our headcount is higher today than a year ago. Moreover, since the beginning of the year we have had major high profile hires in New York, London, Paris, Brussels, Dublin and Asia.

But even if the firm is still pursuing headcount growth and only excised some attorneys for underperforming this cycle, this is still a worrisome sign. Standard operating procedure in the law firm world would drag out these firings — especially given that it doesn’t seem to be a big number — slowly over several months to keep them from registering as a “layoff.” That not only maintains morale, but staves off outside attention. Some associates wouldn’t even be fired so much as passive aggressively pushed out of the nest. Perhaps those lawyers were just having a dry spell and could even turn around their billables over the next few months.

When a firm decides it’s going to cut several people loose in the same week and place itself on the radar of legal industry observers, that says something. It’s proof that we’re entering harder times for attorneys, where firms don’t have the patience to wait around on attorneys.

And that’s bad news for folks at a lot of firms because the market doesn’t look like it’s getting better any time soon.

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UPDATE (5/25/2017, 2:53 p.m.): More details, including the fact that the layoffs included first-year associates, are available here.

Earlier: HUGE LAYOFF REPORT: Biglaw Firm Lays Off Associates, Staff, And Partners

HeadshotJoe Patrice is an editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news.

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