Layoffs

Ed. note: Above the Law has teamed up with Law Shucks, which has done excellent work translating all of the layoff news into user-friendly charts and graphs: the Layoff Tracker. Regular readers of this column are well aware by now that the overall unemployment rate isn’t a particularly good indicator, but it’s the most-commonly discussed […]

Yesterday we reported on layoffs at Howrey. Our sources told us that 100 people were axed, but a Howrey spokesperson declined to give us firm numbers. It turns out that our sources were pretty accurate. The firm confirmed to AmLaw Daily today that it laid off 94 people: 29 associates and 65 staff, from 10 […]

Update: Howrey has confirmed that 94 people were laid off. More information here. Howrey LLP has been generating a lot of news recently. Last week, the firm got hit with a $30-million racial discrimination suit by a former Brussels-based associate. But the rumor mill there was already churning with other, more depressing news here in […]

Is it me or has there been an awful lot of news coming out of Wisconsin recently? Last week a Wisconsin prisoner was denied his fundamental Dungeons & Dragons rights — rights that would be protected by my class 8, Constitution of Living, artifact. Then we had a story about an attempt to bring cast […]

Ed. note: Above the Law has teamed up with Law Shucks, which has done excellent work translating all of the layoff news into user-friendly charts and graphs: the Layoff Tracker. We’re coming down to the wire on the Law Shucks Lateral Tracker launch promotion iPhone 3GS giveaway. Read the announcement and the rules, then get […]

Ed. note: Above the Law has teamed up with Law Shucks, which has done excellent work translating all of the layoff news into user-friendly charts and graphs: the Layoff Tracker. Unemployment rose again last month, climbing higher in 43 states, which is particularly surprising when compared to the 36 states that reported improved numbers in […]

Last week, Seyfarth Shaw kicked off a round of 2010 layoffs. Today, Wilson Sonsini followed suit. The firm just announced that it is laying off staff. Here’s an excerpt from the firm-wide memo: [A]fter a long and thorough analysis, we have concluded that these changes have made it necessary to downsize the ranks of our […]

Many associates are hoping that 2010 will bring an end to the layoffs, pay cuts and deferrals of 2009. But so far January has brought more of the same at several major law firms. This week, our ATL / Lateral Link survey asks whether you think your firm will institute more layoffs and pay cuts […]

Cadwalader conducted layoffs, early and often. Massive, bloody layoffs. Now, Am Law Daily tells us what they won: Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft on Tuesday reported a 28 percent increase in profits per partner, the firm’s first positive results since 2007. Yet while the firm enjoyed a slight increase in net income, some of the increase […]

Ed. note: Above the Law has teamed up with Law Shucks, which has done excellent work translating all of the layoff news into user-friendly charts and graphs: the Layoff Tracker. If you thought unemployment and underemployment (which does include people who become discouraged and voluntary stop looking for work) were arbitrary and capricious, you’ll really […]

Apparently, cutting salaries, changing its compensation structure, and canceling its summer program just isn’t getting Seyfarth Shaw the kinds of cost savings it needs. So the firm has returned to the old fail-safe option: layoffs. Am Law Daily reports that the firm laid off approximately 20 attorneys and 20 staffers. The firm-wide email from Seyfarth […]

In November, we reported that Schulte was letting people go. We noted that Schulte decided to lay people off before the holidays. Now it appears that Schulte wasn’t exactly being a total Scrooge. It looks like Schulte let people know they were going to be fired back in November, but those layoffs become official this […]

Ed. note: Above the Law has teamed up with Law Shucks, which has done excellent work translating all of the layoff news into user-friendly charts and graphs: the Layoff Tracker. The year isn’t off to a good start, but it’s the same bad news it’s been for a while. Focus is increasingly turning to the […]

Last January, Cahill Gordon & Reindel started the year by cutting approximately 10% of its associates. Sources report that 2010 is off to a similar start. Says one tipster: [I]t’s about 20-25 people. Mostly younger associates but some more senior people as well. Standard 3 months severance…. [I]t’s being termed performance based, typical stuff related […]

Ed. note: Have a question for next week? Send it in to advice@abovethelaw.com. Dear ATL, Deferred associates are starting soon at my V100 firm… which is *odd* because there’s not enough work to go around. At least not for junior level associates, because the mid levels and senior levels hoard work for themselves. So if […]

Thanks to everyone who submitted possible nominees for our Lawyer of the Year award. We reviewed your 160+ comments and developed a slate of ten worthy candidates. Before we reveal them, we’ll talk about a few folks we passed over. A number of you suggested Mike Leach, the lawyer turned football coach who was recently […]

While I was off sampling eggnog from all across the land, Law Shucks was busy crunching numbers. To no one’s surprise, it turns out that 2009 was a very difficult year for those trying to hang onto Biglaw jobs: 2009 will go down as the worst year ever for law-firm layoffs. More people were laid […]

Ed. note: Above the Law has teamed up with Law Shucks, which has done excellent work translating all of the layoff news into user-friendly charts and graphs: the Layoff Tracker. You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and there you have the facts of modern American unemployment. In this case, […]

Last week, we shared with you a very interesting internal document from Simpson Thacher & Bartlett: a collection of notes or informal minutes from a June 2009 partners’ meeting. The notes discussed attorney headcount, possible layoffs, and compensation, among other subjects. Today we have even more deliciousness for you: an internal memorandum from executive committee […]

Ed. note: Above the Law has teamed up with Law Shucks, which has done excellent work translating all of the layoff news into user-friendly charts and graphs: the Layoff Tracker. This recession is turning out to have all of the unemployment and none of the rebound of the recession in the early 1980s. Unemployment is […]