I wish I had systematically tracked large law firm staff and lawyer reductions.
Not to single out particular firms, but I just read a couple more reports of BigLaw cutbacks. Duane Morris Lays Off Additional Staff (Legal Week, 22 Aug 08) reports that many of the 15 positions cut were in marketing. An expanded version of this article is in the Legal Intelligencer.
New York’s Fried Frank announces job cuts (Legal Week, 19 Aug 08) reports that Fried Frank cutbacks “affect almost 10% of the firm’s total of 730 global support staff, primarily affect floating secretaries, part-time assistants and paralegals and library personnel in the New York and Washington DC offices of the US firm.” According to the firm, this redundancy is not a result of the economy but rather a result of a two-year efficiency study.
I suppose it’s no wonder with both revenue and profit-per-partner falling in the first half of 2008. Forecast: Law Firms to Continue Bumpy Ride Through 2008 (American Lawyer, 21 Aug 08) by Dan DiPietro, the client head of the Law Firm Group of the Citi Private Bank, reports on slowing revenue growth and falling profits per partner at large US law firms. DiPietro forecasts continuing tough times in 2008, so we may see additional lay offs.
So far, I don’t recall reading about many legal IT lay-offs. Has anyone kept a list of firms that have let go lawyers and staff?
Update (30 Aug 2008)See About Those Law Firm Layoffs? It Isn’t That Bad, National Law Journal, 12 Aug 08 for perspective and a list of firms laying off lawyers or staff. I missed this article when I wrote the above.