The LawShucks / Above The Law layoff reviews have been by far the best indicators we’ve seen online of what is happening in the US legal employment market…
They’ve now published a mid 2009 review and introduce it by writing…
We’ve reached the halfway point of what is by far the worst year for law firm layoffs.
All told, 125 major law firms have announced or had confirmed layoffs. The combined total is 10,723 people, 4,015 of which are attorneys and the balance, 6,708, are staff.
After the jump, we go into excruciating detail, complete with charts (and our first Venn diagram!).
Layoffs ramped up in January, February, and March, then plummeted in the second quarter. The pace slowed (relatively speaking) in April and May, with more than 1,000 people laid off in each month. In June, layoffs slowed even further, likely the result of the arrival of summer associates and the runup in the stock markets.
The full article can be seen at http://lawshucks.com/2009/07/the-law-shucks-mid-year-layoff-review/
This great little graph of lawyoffs by month this gives a great overview
