Biglaw

Are Stealth Layoffs Ahead? Firms Are Threatening To 'Rightsize'

Beware performance reviews this year.

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Small teamWe do see firms, now that demand isn’t quite as high, are looking at how to rightsize a bit.

It’s not a last-in, first-out kind of approach. It’s who is the best talent? And being maybe a bit more deliberate about performance management in an environment where demand isn’t quite as high as it was.

— Lisa Smith, a principal at Fairfax Associates, told Law.com with demand for legal services slumping, firms are looking to cut some weight. One strategy Smith predicts is using performance reviews to let go of some associates. Which sounds a lot like the disturbingly popular stealth layoffs, frequently couched in performance review terms, which allow firms to cut headcount without confirming that they were financially based layoffs.

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