Above The Law: Layoffs By Region

We’ve done sporadic reports in this series on particular markets (California, Chicago, and London so far). Figuring out which firms haven’t had layoffs announced in a market where most have has, not surprisingly, been a strong indicator of firms to watch.

California
For example, in the first California roundup, we wrote:

That pretty much leaves Gibson Dunn; Irell & Manella; Manatt, Phelps & Phillips; Paul Hastings; and Quinn Emanuel as the major California firms that haven’t had layoffs yet. Most of those skew towards litigation, so perhaps there won’t be major cuts.
We subsequently revised that list to add Munger Tolles, but far more firms dropped off. Within three weeks, the list went from six major California law firms that hadn’t had layoffs to two.

London
London is almost impossible to keep up with. Suffice to say, there are always layoffs there, although Freshfields and Slaughter & May seem to have avoided them so far. This week it was Eversheds letting go 11 in its London real-estate practice, the firm’s third round.

They’re too small for us to track and getting smaller (check the methodology), but Howard Kennedy is in redundancy consultation with up to 40 people – salaried (i.e., nonequity) partners, associates, and staff. Last June, the firm was one of the first movers, when it laid off 20 attorneys and 30 staff. Trowers & Hamlin, which is another small UK firm, had its third round of cuts. This time, 17 associates and staff.

Atlanta
This week, we’ve been given a gift. Janet Conley of the Fulton County Daily Report, in a piece primarily about stealth layoffs at Troutman Sanders, has rounded up most of the Atlanta activity.

Troutman Sanders tried to go the shameful stealth route, but Janet knows how to subtract. Number of lawyers before announcement minus number of lawyers after announcement minus solid information from firm equals 28 fewer lawyers. As we say in the Law Shucks Layoff Tracker methodology, we will use that number until the firm provides better information.

Turning to the rest of the city:

Alston & Bird in January and April announced the layoffs of more than 20 associates, roughly 2 percent of its attorneys, and some 60 staff; King & Spalding in March said it cut 122 people, including 37 lawyers — about 4 percent of its attorney ranks. Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker said in March that it would cut 44 associates, or about 6 percent of its associate head count, and 87 staff from its U.S. offices.
In February, Bryan Cave, known as Bryan Cave-Powell Goldstein in Atlanta, cut some 5 percent of its 1,200 lawyers firmwide; Holland & Knight bumped 243 employees, including 70 lawyers, or about 7 percent of the firm’s lawyer ranks; and Epstein Becker & Green laid off more than 20 attorneys, or about 6 percent of its lawyers nationwide.