Staff Layoffs

Kings County D.A.’s Office Lays Off 13 Attorneys, 2 Staff

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It’s a bad news day in Brooklyn. This morning, the class of 2010 made Brooklyn Law look foolish. Now we’ve received reports that the Brooklyn DA’s Office has laid off 13 attorneys and two staffers in the past week.

It’s big news, especially for law students and private practice attorneys who think that working for the government gives you unchallenged job security. Government lawyers might be somewhat buffered from the tyranny of the legal market economy, but they can still be shown the door.

And word coming out of Charles Hynes’s office is that these 15 people were let go for poor performance…

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Consultant Says 17,500 Non-Partner Biglaw Jobs ‘At Risk’

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I like paying attention to what consultants say about the Biglaw market. It offers a fun little insight into what people think partners want to hear.

The ABA Journal reports that consultants at Hildebrandt think partners want to hear that they can still fire people — lots of people:

Writing for the blog of law firm consultant Hildebrandt, Lisa Smith makes an argument that outsourcing, efficiencies and increased hiring of staff attorneys could mean a different mix of staff and associate lawyers—and an overall reduction in head count in the next five to seven years.

Hilderbrandt expects an overall reduction of headcount of 17,500. But not partners! Just associates and staff attorneys…

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Staff Layoff Watch: Jones Day Also Cuts in Cleveland

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Earlier this month, we reported on staff layoffs in the Los Angeles and Dallas offices of Jones Day. Now we’re hearing about additional layoffs at the firm, which raise the question: Could staff layoffs at JD perhaps be a firm-wide phenomenon, even if the firm only confesses to what it’s confronted with?

Yesterday the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported that Jones Day cut an unspecified number of non-lawyer employees in its Cleveland office. The firm cited the old “technology allows us to be more efficient” rationale, which has been widely invoked by law firms when they cut stuff:

[T]he 117-year-old firm issued a statement saying that “universal adoption of smart phones, voicemail and email enables (and requires) lawyers to be more self-sufficient,” reducing the need to have as many support staff to perform duties now done directly by lawyers.

“Although we deeply regret the need for this action, these changes preserve our ability to best serve clients and remain one of the leading global law firms,” the company said.

Jones Day — which has tooted its own horn in the past, despite also boasting of its discretion and understatement as a firm — couldn’t resist using these staff layoffs as a chance for even more self-aggrandizement….

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Staff Layoff Watch: Jones Day Draws The Curtains on 30+ Staffers

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Jones Day has weathered the recession quite well. And they know it. And they want everybody else to know it.

The traditionally secretive firm has not been shy about slamming the business models of their competitors. You’ll remember this memo, written by D.C. partner Joe Sims, where he taunts Jones Day’s rivals:

[M]any of our peer competitors will come out weaker, not stronger. They may well protect their short-term financial metrics (although it will be interesting to see how we fare vs. the firms that slashed and burned), but they will pay a long-term price. Some of it is obvious: Firing staff and associates, or freezing associate salaries, or doing away with summer programs entirely makes it very clear to those groups that either that firm was not efficiently organized and managed before this crisis, or its first interest is protecting the owners’ incomes, not the various constituents that depend on the firm. While that is hardly un-American, it does tend to focus people’s minds on the fact that their firm clearly does not have their interests at the top of its agenda.

So, if Jones Day were to fire staff, would that make it “very clear” that JD isn’t efficiently organized?

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Staff Layoff Watch: Dewey Cuts 30 Administrative Staff

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The pace of law firm layoffs has apparently slowed to a crawl. We’ll go weeks between job losses at large law firms (that we know of). But, here and there, some people are still getting pushed out as firms retool for the new economy.

Sadly, legal secretaries at Dewey & LeBoeuf became the latest casualties of a layoff cycle that seems very close to its end. The firm-wide memo went out earlier today:

Beginning last week and concluding today the firm implemented a reduction in force impacting approximately 30 administrative staff positions in its Los Angeles, New York and Washington, D.C., offices.

Nobody wants to be the last person KIA in a war, and nobody wants to be laid off at the tail end of a recession. Why did Dewey make the move this late (hopefully) in the recession?

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Howrey Layoff Update: The Final Tally?

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Howrey logo.JPGYesterday 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 offices. A tipster says one-third of the “reduction-in-force” took place in Howrey’s D.C. office.
The rumor mill at the firm is still churning, though, claiming that Howrey has taken a number of actions to cut costs — and that the number of laid-off individuals may be higher than 94.

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Nationwide Staff Layoff Watch: Wilson Sonsini Makes Cuts

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wsgr logo.JPGLast 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 staff by approximately 20 employees nationwide, primarily in the secretarial area. We emphasize that the downsizing is a regretful but prudent business decision and no reflection on the skills and performance of the employees involved, who already have been informed of the specifics of this decision. The firm will provide separation pay and support services to help them transition.

It looks like another law firm just got a look at its 2009 profit numbers and found them unappealing. But at Wilson, this is the second year in a row that the new year has brought about new layoffs. In January 2009, Wilson Sonsini laid off 113 people (68 staff) because of the economy. At least this round of New Year’s layoffs isn’t as deep.
In September, Wilson froze the salaries of its secretaries, evidently the firm decided it needed to make a stronger move.
Good luck, Wilson Sonsini friends.
Read the full firm memo after the jump.

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Nationwide Layoff Watch: Seyfarth Shaw Cuts 40 People

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Seyfarth Shaw logo.jpgApparently, 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 Shaw describes the layoffs as needed to better position the firm to take advantage of “opportunities” in the market:

We see opportunities for creating or strengthening client relationships in all of our departments; however, we also know that we must approach these opportunities with the most effective use of our people and their skills.

As a result, we implemented today a separation of approximately 20 attorneys and approximately 20 staff members from a total of about 1,500 people nationwide. In some cases, these decisions were made to better match current or anticipated workloads; others were made as a result of our annual performance management process for attorneys. The separations were spread across multiple offices and practice groups. We have talked to each person affected prior to the distribution of this e-mail.

One Seyfarth Shaw tipster who still has a job told us that they preferred layoffs of some people over additional salary cuts for everybody.

Clearly, we’ve moved well beyond the “survivor’s guilt” stage of Biglaw layoffs. At this point, people are just trying to hang on.

Read the full Seyfarth layoff memo, after the jump.

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Sonnenschein: Staff Layoffs and New Associate Compensation Model Potpourri

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Sonnenschein logo.jpgLast month, we asked you if it was better to be laid off before the holidays, so you could adjust your holiday spending accordingly, or after the holidays, so you could bank the extra paychecks. Above the Law readers were pretty evenly split on the question: 50.8% would rather be laid off before, 49.2% wanted to hang onto their jobs through the holiday season.
Based on that poll, we can expect half of the people Sonnenschein laid off on Friday to be relatively happy with the news. The other half writes emails to Above the Law. Like this person:

Sonnenschein Nath Rosenthal laid off staff on Friday (14 days before Christmas)!

Sonnenschein confirmed the staff layoffs in a statement to Above the Law:

After an extensive and careful review of operations and staffing across the firm, we have decided to undertake a selective reduction in non-legal personnel. We have done everything possible to minimize the dislocation such a transition will make – not only on those leaving the firm, but for all our remaining employees. That includes consideration of tenure of service and other factors in determining severance and compensation continuation for those departing.
This reduction furthers our ongoing effort to right-size our workforce to best meet client needs and to achieve an appropriate attorney-staff balance.
Our restaffing will not in any way diminish our work product, business operations or our ability to deliver the highest quality service to our clients. Indeed, the firm will continue to make strategic investments in talent and professional resources. We have implemented these changes mindful that many of our clients have had to make similar adjustments in their workforce over the past 18 months.
We have great respect for all of those staff who will be moving on and are grateful for their service to Sonnenschein.
Elliott Portnoy, Chairman
David Schadler, Chief Operating Officer

No associates were affected by the staff cuts at Sonnenschein on Friday.
We can’t say the same for the next bit of news. Completely unrelated to the staff cuts, the firm has unveiled its new, non-lockstep compensation model. Let’s check it out after the jump.

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Nationwide Layoff Watch: Goodwin Procter Makes Grown Men Cry?

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goodwin Procter logo.JPGIt’s been a tough day at Goodwin Procter. Multiple tipsters report that the firm is laying off both attorneys and staff today. One source reported on the human toll of losing your job:

[L]awyers were just laid off this morning at Goodwin Procter in Boston. There are both men and women crying in the halls.

It’s not clear what triggered the tears, since Goodwin handled the dismissals professionally, appropriately, and in a manner similar to other top firms. Are Goodwin guys just more sensitive?
Goodwin has laid off 21 attorneys and 34 staff. Here is the critical part from the firm-wide memo Goodwin Procter just sent out to its associates:

In anticipation of a slow economic recovery, we took a number of actions during the year to manage our staffing model, secretarial ratios and discretionary expenses. The end result was that while we were largely successful in realigning resources to meet client needs and market demand, there remains some overcapacity within the firm.

After careful deliberation, we have made the difficult decision to reduce our associate ranks by 21 people and our professional staff ranks by 34 people.

Most of the attorneys who were cut were second-year associates in the firm’s Business Law Department, out of its Boston office.
Read the full memo, after the jump.

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Staff Layoff Watch: Day Pitney Downsizes Staff

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day pitney logo.jpgIncrementally, the pace of layoffs has been picking up. Perhaps firms are trying to get through all of their cuts before the holiday season?
The latest news comes from Day Pitney. A tipster reports:

Day Pitney in CT laid off 30 staff today and moved staff to lower positions.

A spokesperson from Day Pitney confirmed that the firm laid of 29 staff (not 30). The move was part of a staff reorganization and affected staffers in eight of the firm’s nine offices.
No attorneys were laid off.
Let’s check Day Pitney’s layoff history after the jump.

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Staff Layoff Watch: WilmerHale Lays Off 57 Staffers

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Wilmer Hale logo.JPGWe don’t have all of the details, but multiple sources report that WilmerHale is laying off 57 staffers today (secretaries and paralegals). We understand that the staff is being informed right now.
We don’t have information about what (if any) severance package is being offered to the departed staff. Our sources report that the layoffs will affect staff in Boston, D.C., and New York offices.
Spokespeople for WilmerHale did not respond to an immediate request comment. But we hope to have more information as people are informed of their job situation.
Good luck, WilmerHale friends.
UPDATE More from our tipsters, and a statement from the firm, after the jump.

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