Regular readers will know that we’ve been out of the office for the past week… unsurprisingly the layoff news has kept on flooding through while we haven’t been posting.
Here are the latest layoffs that we’ve come across.
USA
March Mayhem: Law Firm Layoffs in 1 Week Total Nearly 1,500
Updated: In a sign of the troubled times, law firm cuts are getting deeper and more frequent:
Late last week, Latham & Watkins made a stunning announcement that the firm is axing 190 associates and 250 staff.
On Tuesday, Orrick announced it is cutting 100 associates and 200 staff, following a much smaller group of layoffs there last fall.
And on Wednesday, the ax began to fall even faster. Six well-known law firms announced attorney and staff layoffs that brought the total of lost legal jobs, just for that one day, to more than 500.
http://www.abajournal.com/news/march_mayhem_law_firm_layoffs_top_500_today_over_1200_since_friday/
Latham & Watkins To Shed 190 Lawyers And 250+ Paralegals & Support Staff
http://triangle.bizjournals.com/triangle/othercities/washington/stories/2009/03/02/daily12.html
Dewey, Shearman lay off about 160 support staff
http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1202428782990
Do Orrick’s Latest Layoffs Signal a Second Wave Ahead From Other Firms?
In one of the largest cuts of this layoff season to date, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe sent home 12 percent of its nonpartner lawyers on Tuesday.
Worldwide, the firm cut 100 associates and of counsel from a total of 807, and 200 staff. Half of those affected are in the United States, the firm reported, while a quarter each are in Asia and Europe. A firm spokesman said no partners were let go.
The cuts affected all practice areas and each of its 21 offices worldwide. The 1,000-plus lawyer firm declined to discuss which practice areas or offices were most affected. Staff cuts spanned all levels and positions, including two top spokesmen.
This is the second round of layoffs in four months for Orrick, which pinkslipped 40 associates and counsel and 35 staff in November, mainly in its real estate and structured finance practice areas.
http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1202428772058
UK
Scotland’s biggest law firm to shed jobs, from junior staff to partners
PARTNERS at Dundas & Wilson are to lose their jobs as part of a swathe of cutbacks at Scotland’s biggest law firm.
The practice is to axe up to 50 jobs across its three offices as work dries up amid the economic downturn.
Dundas & Wilson (D&W), which has its head office in Edinburgh and two other bases in Glasgow and London, added that it had already asked some of its 35 graduate trainees due to start in 2009 to defer their positions for 12 months.
http://news.scotsman.com/scotland/Scotland39s-biggest-law-firm-to.5025547.jp
