Here’s the latest roundup of layoffs and pay decreases at law firms .. and only at the latter end of this week.
How people can be telling us things are getting better when all of the following turned up in our inbox this morning is beyond AALE.
Firstly JD Journel senses more bad news at Hogan & Hartson
Tipster: Stealth Layoffs at Hogan & Hartson
A JDJournal tipster informs us that layoffs are underway at Hogan & Hartson.
The layoffs include senior associates who were not up for promotions. The tipster tells us “this was never an ‘up or out’ track until now.”
We don’t yet know any numbers, or which practices are being affected.
In April the firm let go 93 support staff, and cut associate pay.
Next
Hunton & Williams Cuts 23 Attorneys, 64 Staff Members
Hunton & Williams has announced that 23 associates and counsel and 64 staff members have been laid off. The cuts, announced in a firmwide e-mail distributed Thursday morning, are spread across practice areas and offices. They affect two percent of the Richmond-based firm’s 1000 lawyers and six percent of its staff. Today’s cuts are Hunton’s first round of layoffs since the start of the downturn.
Managing partner Wally Martinez says the decision did not come lightly and, while the firm remains financially strong, the layoffs were necessary in order to align the firm with client needs. (In 2008 Hunton reported a 2.2 percent increase in revenue, while its profits per partner dropped 3 percent.)
Fish & Richardson layoffs 120
In yet another sign of the troubled economic times, a well-known intellectual property boutique is laying off 35 lawyers and 85 support staff.
"Continuing to face unprecedented levels of economic uncertainty in the marketplace, the firm has decided to make workforce adjustments that will ensure our continued strength during these turbulent times," writes Fish & Richardson in an internal memo obtained by Above the Law.
And Day Pitney a firm with 9 offices on the east coast announced
Day Pitney Lays Off 20 Attorneys
Day Pitney has laid off 20 attorneys this week, including four from the Hartford, Conn., office and six from Florham Park, N.J., firm officials said Wednesday. Day Pitney’s other Connecticut offices also were affected. Three Stamford-based attorneys were let go along with one attorney each in New Haven and West Hartford. Greenwich was untouched. The other five cuts were in the New York and Boston offices.
Day Pitney has nine offices that range from Boston in the north down to Washington, D.C.
As we know Australia isn’t immune to layoffs at law firms although some of the firms would like us to think it is business as usual.Am
Law Daily have published the following article that gives us a pretty good sense of what’s happening in the antipodes .. the article was written using a law firm layoff chart published by ALB
G’Day Mate! Aussie Firms Not Immune to Layoffs
Posted by Brian Baxter
From the U.S. to the U.K., from Canada to the tiny island nation of Jamaica, law firm layoffs seem to be a global phenomenon. Australia’s relatively remote location hasn’t spared its law firms from the economic squeeze, reports Australasian Legal Business (ALB).
Salary freezes, layoffs, and deferrals have picked up in recent months, ALB reports, and the scourge has spread to some of Australia’s most prominent firms.
Among the larger Aussie firms enacting cuts:
- — Minter Ellison said that "softening" demand for legal services was behind its decision to let go of 35 staff members–11 lawyers and 24 support staff.
- — Blake Dawson terminated 89 employees–23 lawyers and 66 support staff–after its March review of business.
- — DLA Phillips Fox, an affiliate of DLA Piper, cut 12 lawyers from its offices in Australia and New Zealand.
- — One of Australia’s largest firms, Allens Arthur Robinson, announced a firm-wide salary freeze in light of a "shrinking Australian legal market."
- — Corrs Chambers Westgarth has delayed the start date for its 2009 recruits from February to April and paid graduates roughly $1,740 each in compensation. (All dollar totals have been converted to U.S. dollars.)
ALB reports that in addition to layoffs, many firms in Australia are enacting other cost-cutting measures, including subletting office space to reduce rent obligations and crafting flexible work arrangements with employees.
And what of the lawyers already let go? Many Aussie lawyers are pursuing solo practices or in-house jobs, ALB reports – a phenomenon we’ve seen here in the U.S.. Still, landing a new job or finding work is easier said than done. "[Some] companies are not looking to employ, but get people in with contracts to assist," Ken Jagger of Aussie recruiting firm Balance Legal told ALB.
In London this story published by The Lawyer illustrates how partners at firms are having to take serious paycuts in order to find new work…
The Lawyer writes:
Nicholson has been head of competition at the City firm for 15 years. He is to be replaced in the management role by London competition partner Philippe Chappatte.
It is understood that the Competition Commission job is part-time.
Nicholson’s recent work includes advising BHP Billiton on the competition aspects of its £40bn bid for rival miner Rio Tinto last year.
A former star of The Lawyer’s Hot 100, Nicholson also acted for longstanding Slaughters client MyTravel on its merger with Thomas Cook in 2007.
As a panel member of the Competition Commission, he will take a considerable pay cut from Slaughter and May, where partners earn upwards of £2m a year.
He will be paid pro rata receiving a daily rate of £350, with no pension, gratuity or allowance on termination.
