Biglaw Lawyer Layoffs -- 10,000 Of Them -- Could Be Just Around The Corner

Which lawyers are most vulnerable to layoffs?

onFebruary 26, 2019 at 1:45 PMFebruary 26, 2019 at 1:13 PM

A back-of-the-envelope estimate of lawyer job losses in the forthcoming recession shows total losses, at 10,000 lawyers, will be significantly below the nearly 18,000 jobs lost [during the 2008 recession]. Notably, the changes at law firms, while recession-related, are not truly cyclical swings. Rather, they are structural changes whose necessity becomes clear in the down part of the cycle. The corollary, of course, is that one doesn’t have to wait for the cycle to turn to make changes. Indeed, wise firm leaders are working on them already.

–Hugh A. Simons, a former executive committee member at The Boston Consulting Group and chief operating officer at Ropes & Gray, writes for The American Lawyer that layoffs — thousands of them — could hit the industry in the next recession. Simons specifically notes that the number of senior attorneys below equity partners (nonequity partners and counsel) have grown tremendously since the 2008 recession, but they may be particularly vulnerable in a changing economic times. “This oft-overlooked group can be a holding pen for lawyers who aren’t going to be made partner but who are important, and profitable, when business is strong,” he writes. “When business softens, their position is more circumspect.”