The avalanche of job losses at law firms continues..
In the UK .. The Lawyer Magazine reports
More bad news, we’re afraid: DLA Piper is to slash a further 140 jobs
The cuts, UK regional managing partner David Bradley explained in the email that broke the news to those affected, are the firm’s attempt to "appropriately align [its] resource and cost base to the volume of business activity that is currently being undertaken."
Or put more plainly, ‘there are too many of you for the amount of work we’re getting’.
The cuts will affect the "lawyer and support staff communities", the email continued, who are asked to "keep at the forefront of [their] minds, the need to be considerate, understanding and respectful of each other."
"Clearly, these are challenging times and this message will be unsettling", the statement continued.
Perhaps the understatement of the year.
http://www.thelawyer.com/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=136677&d=415&h=417&f=416
Legal Week UK also has the story
DLA Piper Set to Cut up to 140 in New Round of Layoffs
http://editorial.incisivemedia.com/c/19Yhlv0R7K8yP0sy
Over in the US Hogan & Hartson is trying another tack on the sticky problem of re-trenchment
The National Law Journal reports
Hogan & Hartson Offers Buyouts to 240 Staffers
Hogan & Hartson is the latest firm looking to trim its legal staff, but it hasn’t enacted layoffs.
Instead, the Washington, D.C.-based firm offered buyouts on Monday to about 240 of its legal secretaries and word processors. Staff and associate layoffs have become commonplace at law firms in the past six months, but Hogan & Hartson is among the first to encourage staffers to leave voluntarily.
"In the end, I think people are going to feel pretty good that the firm gave people a choice," said Hogan & Hartson Chairman J. Warren Gorrell Jr. The buyout offer has been extended to secretaries and word processors who have been with the firm for at least five years. Those who choose to accept the buyout will receive four weeks of pay, plus an additional week of pay for every year they spent with the firm. The buyout offer is more lucrative for longtime secretaries, who generally make more money than recent hires.
For example, a secretary with 20 years at the firm would receive nearly half of his or her annual pay.
http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202428151483
And just look at this list of reports in today’s daily update from the Lawyer (UK)
09-February-2009
Lovells to slash 94 jobs
http://www.thelawyer.com/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=136642&d=415&h=417&f=416
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09-February-2009
Clifford Chance moves layoffs forward
http://www.thelawyer.com/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=136655&d=415&h=417&f=416
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09-February-2009
Slaughters bites the bullet with new fee structures
http://www.thelawyer.com/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=136616&d=415&h=417&f=416
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09-February-2009
Simmons waves goodbye to Portuguese offices
http://www.thelawyer.com/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=136617&d=415&h=417&f=416
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09-February-2009
Mills & Reeve staff band together to save jobs
http://www.thelawyer.com/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=136618&d=415&h=417&f=416
Pretty difficult to accentuate the positive when you see 5 reports like that in the space of 24 hours.
