Blind Item, Layoffs, White & Case

Blind Item Follow-Up: Morgan Lewis Also Denies Layoffs(Plus a look at the Five O'Clock Club's law firm clients.)

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Based on a Washington Post article profiling the Five O’Clock Club, an outplacement and career coaching company, we constructed a Biglaw blind item:

Which New York law firm, having already completed two rounds of layoffs, has hired the Five O’Clock Club to help it carry out additional layoffs (in August, October, and November)?

After we ran the item, several firms came forward to declare they’re not the firm in question. And now they’re joined by one more: Morgan, Lewis & Bockius.
A spokesperson for Morgan Lewis contacted ATL to say that it isn’t the firm with layoffs in the works. In fact, Morgan Lewis claims that it shouldn’t even be on the shortlist of contenders.
Read why — and check out the list of the Five O’Clock Club’s clients, including some very prestigious law firms that haven’t publicly admitted to layoffs — after the jump.


The blind item described a firm that has already conducted two rounds of layoffs. According to the Morgan Lewis spokesperson, the firm has conducted just one round of reductions (in March 2009). It disputes our characterization of a wave of departures from MLB in January 2009 as a “layoff.”
So that’s good news for Morgan Lewis associates — you’re safe, for the time being. Also, it’s worth noting that Morgan Lewis doesn’t appear on the list of law firms (PDF) that have used the Five O’Clock Club’s services in the past (a list that has been removed from the Club’s website, but not before we downloaded it — heehee):

Although Morgan Lewis is absent, a number of other prestigious and profitable law firms are on that list. If your firm is on the list, and if you’ve raised holy hell about our past coverage of “stealth layoffs,” defending your firm’s honor against such charges, were you aware that your firm is a client of the Five O’Clock Club?
If you have info on layoffs at your law firm, stealth or otherwise, you know where to reach us.
Five O’Clock Club Client List [PDF]
Earlier: Blind Item Follow-Up: A New York Firm That Fits The Bill?
Blind Item: Layoffs To Come At ‘A Law Firm in Manhattan’

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