March lived up to its reputation by coming in like a lion, out like a lamb.
The first week of March saw 1,132 people (337 attorneys, 795 staff) lose their jobs. On March 3, Orrick kicked things off with a bang – laying off 100 attorneys and 200 staff. DLA Piper (54), Freshfields (10), and Shearman & Sterling (18 in the UK) followed. Before anyone had a chance to process what was then the fifth-worst layoff day, six more major firms had layoffs on March 4: O’Melveny (200), Dewey & LeBoeuf (130), Clifford Chance (115), Shearman & Sterling (60, in the US), Wiggin & Dana (28), and Haynes & Boone. The day’s 536 layoffs were the fourth-most.
That was 11% more than the previous worst week’s record.
Then came March 9 – the single worst day of layoffs at major law firms. While only three firms had layoffs, they were massive in scope: White & Case (400), Morgan Lewis & Bockius (216), and K&L Gates (121). That set the bar for the single-worst day of layoffs at major law firms, with 737. The rest of the week saw additional layoffs from firms like Sidley Austin (229), Paul Hastings (131), and Baker & McKenzie (85).
1,477 law firm layoffs for the week ending March 13. That set the bar fully 30% higher.
Charts and analysis, after the break.
Then, a break. Three consecutive business days without a layoff for the first time in 2009. “Only” 158 people were laid off all week. Speculation began that perhaps the worst was over, although we disagreed.
The last week of the month saw a return to a somewhat more normal pace: 459 people laid off (200 lawyers, 259 staff) from such firms as Katten Muchin (69), Skadden (50), and Gibson Dunn (36).
Regions
The first region that had a notable trend for the month was California. By March 6, Orrick, O’Melveny & Myers, Latham & Watkins, Pillsbury Winthrop, and Sheppard Mullin had all laid people off. By the end of the month, Quinn Emanuel, Manatt Phelps & Phillips and Gibson Dunn had also had layoffs. Munger Tolles & Olsen and Irell and Manella as the only two California law firms that hadn’t had confirmed layoffs.
Chicago was the other area where firms moved like a herd of cattle: Sidley Austin, Katten Muchin, Jenner & Block, and Mayer Brown all reported layoffs within a week of each other. Baker & McKenzie has had a series of layoffs, and Kirkland & Ellis, McDermott Will & Emery, Schiff Hardin, and Seyfarth Shaw had all had previous layoffs. At the time, we said “by our non-Chicago-practicing assessment, that leaves Locke Lord and Winston & Strawn as the major Chicago firms with no announced layoffs.” And then there was one. Locke Lord laid off some staff and 10% of its associates (thanks to a tipster, we were out ahead on reporting that firmwide meeting) at the end of the month.
We also commented briefly on Texas:
Texas was the region in the news this week. It’s impossible to get a straight answer out of those people. We’ve railed against stealth layoffs for a while, but AmLaw Daily did a fine job of calling the firms out. Practice among a certain set of firms down there has been to confirm layoffs when pressed but not provide any details. Baker Botts, Andrews Kurth, Gardere Wynne Sewell, and Winstead are all identified as having confirmed layoffs. Bracewell Giuliani claims it had to let a few people go for “performance reasons”. Haynes and Boone and Vinson & Elkins deny layoffs and hope to be able to avoid them going forward. We’ve had a few tips and seen a number of comments that V&E in particular is being disingenuous. Rumors of deep stealth layoffs at both firms are rampant.
Data
March set new records for total layoffs in a month, layoffs of attorneys, and layoffs of staff.
There were also more layoffs in March than any previous month:
Interestingly, though, firms were more aggressive in February. The average layoff in March affected 83.57 people, down from the 87.13 average of February.
Finally, one other notable trend, which we’ve commented on before. A month ago we noted that London firms have been cutting greater percentages of attorneys than US firms. As American firms have been more actively cutting people, the trend of staff bearing the brunt of layoffs has accelerated.
March ends with an abysmal 3,677 people laid off by major law firms: 1,334 attorneys, 2,343 staff. The total for the first quarter is 7,999: 3,149 lawyers, 4,850 staff.
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Where did you come up with 115 for Clifford Chance? It was 24 associates in New York. Are you including numbers from offices in some of its other 20 countries and, if so, shouldn’t you say so for this primarily US audience?
Actually, we write about BigLaw, much of which happens to be US, but I wouldn't say we write for (or have) a primarily US audience. Our audience is interested in major law firms – many of which are based in the US, but more than a few of which have non-US roots. Clifford Chance puts itself out as "one of the world's leading law firms" so its economic tribulations as a firm are relevant to our analysis regardless of where they pop up.
If you ever have questions about where I "came up with" a number, you should go to the raw data on the tracker http://lawshucks.com/layoff-tracker/#rawdata and search for the firm. You'll see that that 115 is for UK staff from an article on The Lawyer at http://www.thelawyer.com/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=1369...
I agree with you LS – the data about CC and other Magic Circle firms is relevant primarily b/c they are (or are trying to be) players in the US markets, much like US firms are trying to get into the Anglo markets. So even if CC's layoffs take place in Moldova or Mongolia, it is still part of a redundancy/layoff scheme implemented on a firm wide basis – that information is relevant for any one following this kind of stuff. If it was a local mongolian firm, no one would care and it would not be relevant. Keep up the good work.
Kirkland laid off NSPs who would not have made equity Partner. They would've been gone in the next few years if the economy was booming.
Will the State Bar reduce the number of Attorneys admitted to compensate?
I'm an 18 year legal assistant (by attestation) secretary. I was laid off by one of your BigLaw Firms in March (please do not confuse the term BigLaw Firm with Big Dick or Big Boobs. Not the same). Yes I am… disoriented. But! There is hope for my soul.
First, I am not participating in the killing of Polar Bears anymore, or the disenfranchising of American industry, banks included, by the constant pouring and leaking of toxic waste, toxic money notes, fake stock, fake investigations, illegal trade, or the defense of slave labor in countries across the globe. Second, I may be sleepless worrying about how to get my hands on money, but my heart says I am no longer sleeping with strange bedfellows. Am I mad? No, I am "Happy" as happy as I could be with a blistered heart.
I hope my bluecollar brothers and sisters will forgive me for the years and years I have typed, researched and glutted the American judicial system with heaps of legal nonsense for The Chosen Ones, who are obsessed with stealing their land and eating their children.
Interesting perspective.
F'ing Communist
It's about time. As a legal secretary with 10 years in some of the largest firm, and many more as a temp over the last 20 years, I have never seen such a class division as in the legal profession. I have seen partners bring their secretaries to tears on many occasions, and yell and berate. I may end up working at Chipotle or Dunkin Donuts now, but I feel so liberated that I'll no longer be party to defending companies that spill oil, make products that make people sick, and be party to helping egotistical, narcissistic lawyers cheat on their wives while they have affairs on their business trips. I no longer have to book a business class trip to London for $11,000 when I could book the same flight for $200, but coach isn't good enough for these guys, who need to make sure they can be back from London on a whim. The money that law firms spend on associates and summer interns is criminal. It just feeds their egos and they get to lunch at Per Se and Nobu with these associates who think that people get out of school and make $170,000 is normal. Well, i hope that now the Lower East side can go back to its roots and no longer a playground for rich little associates, who sit in their offices and peruse Facebook. And partners who do drugs in the bathroom and snap their fingers to their assistant and say "I want an apple ."
The legal profession deserves a wake up call and I'm glad to see these guys sweating in their corner offices.
And just how much were they paying you to suffer these indignities? Sheesh.
Michael, are you suggesting that Larry, Curly and Moe pay for "silence"?
Lynne you hit it right on the head. God Bless You, I am in the same boat you are in. We will swim to victory. You can email me if you want..
What is with all the layoffs of staff in the Chicago office of Winston & Strawn? They are sending employees home who have been loyal to the firm for over 15 years, have great skills, etc. Are they merging with another huge law firm where they can feed their huge bank accounts and egos? Where are all the great employees supposed to work if law firms keep laying off people. I think a class action lawsuit is in order to stop this. Thank you.
Anyone who has been laid off by law firms in Chicago we should unite and hold a rally in Chicago to show the citizens of our community how many people have been affected by downsizing in the legal profession. I am sure the number of people attending would be overwhelming. This domino effect of downsizing has got to stop now or the previous middle-class wage earners will be the new poor. Common, let's make a stand!
At $300+ an hour, and the freewheeling obsession with billable hours, the legal trade is overdue for a reality check. I hope this represents a permanent change in lawyers' bloated fees as the internet spreads legal information, and more work is outsourced to Asia. Face it: fewer and fewer people can afford to pay you.
Try working for an attorney who bills at least $450-500 an hour. Tell me their ego isn't inflated as well. Working at W&S the attorneys billed exhorbitant invoices and they wonder why their clients can't pay their bills. Look at our former govenor – owed at least $550,000 in legal fees and I would not be surprised if W&S wrote them off like many other bills. What I do not understand why would a law firm have on call over 25 floaters (with no work to do) and then lay them off 6 months later. They were promising false hope with a company who supposedly one of the best law firms.
I worked for the biggest law firm in Canada and know how much money the senior partners billed out and how much compensation they, as well as all of the other lawyers, earned. It never ceased to amaze me how the CEO would send an e-mail out quarterly to let all of the staff know how well the firm was doing. Revenues were up and business was booming. Associates are on retreat to Acapulco; partners are on retreat in Arizona. Meanwhile, within a short time of each of these announcements, inevitably one of the perks enjoyed by the staff would suddenly disappear. It never failed. I am just happy that I am no longer a part of BigLaw. I seized my opportunity to join a company that treats us all well and the perks are unbelievable. Good timing too…that big firm is not quite so big any more!
I know what you mean about the big law firms. For me, it is all based on greed. I worked for a huge law firm in Chicago and they actually did not lose hardly any money for 2008, but yet they found the time to let all of the paralegal secretarys go, making much more work for the secretaries. Then to top it off, they offered buyout packages to secretaries who had been at the firm over 10 years and should the secretaries declined they still went after them and then fired them. Where is the sense of justice and loyalty from employees – it is totally gone. Very dissappointing to me.
I just read all of your comments. All are real and I have felt them first hand. In my case, it is true at my firm the partner in charge is messing with secretary(s) and the secretary is walking around telling people. There is tons of liars and cheats all over the place. Some of the staff, secretaries do not work and have been getting a free ride for years. The partners let some nitwits run the Human Resource Departments and ruin peoples lives! I know two secretaries that died because of HRs behavior, and then they have the nerve to go to the funeral! Don't worry what goes around comes around. Chicago Law Firms will fall and fall big. Law was not like this years ago. Before 1990, it was pleasure to go to work. I ran to work with pillows on my feet. But today, Greed is what is going to kill this country. But, we all have to have hope. Remember, you did the best job you could (I hope). Your resume is your integrity. And in the end, the only evaluator we need to make happy, IS GOD HIMSELF SO SEES EVERYTHING AND LOVES YOU. DO NOT MAKE THESE PEOPLE HAPPY BY HATING THEM. BE HAPPY THAT YOU ARE OUT OF THIS HOLE.
As long as we are spilling the beams. And I hope the IRS reads this. Many laws firms take write offs. But, that individual write off, is not seen by the company person paying the bill. For example: AB owes $10,000; It is written off by $4,000. Now AB owes, $6,000. Well, accounts payable rep at AB does not know this and somehow, it pays the $10,000. Now, keep in mind that $4,000 was written off (and this is included in losses for law firm''s 1120 return). The law firm cashes the check. Balance is zero and that EXTRA $4,000 goes into a secret coded pool of money – wherein gee, I wonder who gets it; could it be the equity partners. Must be nice to get $25,00O EACH QUARTER AND A $50,000 BONUS AT THE END OF THE YEAR. WHILE YOUR SECRETARY GETS $900, AFTER TAXES! YOU ASS HOLES!