Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. Pillsbury Doughboy's Cooler, Eviller Cousin
Two major stories this week. One at least brings a little humor to the dreadful situation for its absurdity; the other is just more horror on a new scale. Pillsbury has been forced to confirm layoffs of 15-20 lawyers, after David Lat broke the story of corporate head Bob Robbins (Cornell AB ’72, Harvard JD ’75) being overheard talking on the train by a law student. The MSM picked up Lat’s top-flight story, and has dubbed Robbins the “doughy Pillsbury lawyer.” At least we can laugh at his bumbling.
There’s nothing funny about the massive layoffs at Allen & Overy. 47 partners, 200 attorneys, and 200 staff are losing their jobs, approximately half in London and half around the rest of the world. That’s in addition to two previous rounds totalling 13 in January, plus Deidre Dare. Oh, and 35 partners are also looking at de-equitization, although they’ll presumably be asked to make their capital contribution before getting knocked down.
That makes Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer the obvious addition to our watch list. Freshfields and Slaughter & May are the two remaining Magic Circle firms that haven’t announced layoffs yet. Slaughters is sometimes called the “Wachtell of the Magic Circle” because it’s as profitable as its peers but hasn’t expanded internationally nearly as much. From afar, there’s not much relevant to the layoff analysis to distinguish Freshfields from Linklaters from Clifford Chance, so Freshfields goes to the top of the watch list.
[Update: 1:30 - McKee Nelson cuts 46 - 6 lawyers, 40 staff. Normally, I'd save this for next week's update, but now we have our first week of more than 1,000 people laid off from BigLaw (1,002 - 352 lawyers, 650 staff)]
Summary of the week’s activity and the final numbers, after the jump.
* Didn’t add (usual reason - not BigLaw): Thring Townsend Lee & Pemberton (Bath & Swindon, England), which laid off 20 staff; Dickinson Dees (Newcastle, England), despite the cute nickname “Dickie Dees,” - 15 attorneys, 75 staff; Calfee, Halter & Griswold (Cleveland) – 4 lawyers, 2 staffers; Roetzel & Andress (also Cleveland) – 13 associates, 18 staff; A&L Goodbody (Ireland) – 45 of its total staff of 600 – 20 solicitors (of 360), 25 staff.
* Added Day Pitney, which laid off 66 staff, 31 in Hartford, but didn’t add fellow Nutmegger Updike, Kelly & Spellacy, which laid off three secretaries and two first years.
* Regular adds: A&O and Pillsbury (above); Buchanan Ingersoll – 30 staff, following a previous round of 25 in November; Thompson Hine, 46 – 12 lawyers, 34 staff; Kramer Levin, 39 – 18 lawyers, 21 staff; Cozen O’Connor – 61 staff; Faegre & Benson – 29 lawyers; Hogan & Hartson – 149 staff; and Simmons & Simmons, 69 – 20 lawyers, 49 staff.
Finally, it happened last week, but word has just come out that Carter Ledyard & Milburn has laid off 9 associates, plus 3 or so in “stealth” layoffs. That’s another firm that has done the unforgivable: laid off first years. This is a classic example of a firm that we’re on the fence about including in the BigLawLayoff Tracker.
Are we right to include them? Should we open the door to all the riffraff?
Last week got a lot of hype, but this week beats it. Again, these numbers are just BigLaw:
* 956 for the week (346 lawyers, 610 staff) 1,002 for the week (352 lawyers, 650 staff)
* 2,035 in February (846 lawyers, 1,189 staff)
* 3,575 in 2009 (1,540 lawyers, 2,035 staff)
Related posts:
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Hideous!
Hideous!
It's a miracle that Pillsbury Dough Boy (who kinda looks like the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man here) still has his job as company mascot/public face.
It's a miracle that Pillsbury Dough Boy (who kinda looks like the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man here) still has his job as company mascot/public face.