April may be the break we’ve been hoping for. We described the law-firm layoff activity in March as “coming in like a lion, going out like a lamb” and the ovine trend continued through April. For more detailed analysis of the week-by-week events, see the “This Week in Layoff” series. This month’s entries are for the weeks ending:
The charts and macro analysis, after the jump.
All of the major indicators trended downward for the first time since last autumn, and fewer people were laid off in April than in any other month this year, falling off by almost 70% from March.
Still, although the number of law firms at which layoffs were reported dropped off by almost 30%, the count of 31 firms was basically in line with previous months.
That, of course, results in a steep drop in the average number of people laid off in each announced layoff.
None of the 10 largest layoffs in April makes the overall top 10 list.
Interestingly, the split of attorneys to staff remained relatively constant. Lawyers constituted 34.23% of the people laid off in April, compared to 36.55% in March.
The real trend for April, however, was the rise of non-layoff cost cutting. Deferred start dates and salary cuts abounded. We covered those measures in particular in the weeks ending April 24 and May 1.
We also broke out law firm layoff coverage by region a bit more in the latter half of the month: California, London, and Atlanta one week; then Philadelphia, Chicago, and London (again); and, finally, London (of course), Moscow and Canada in an all-international affair.
We expect firms will deploy “softer” cost-cutting measures the rest of the year, or at least through on-campus interviewing. Those firms that can, will almost certainly try to get through the recruiting process with as little reputational risk as possible. Of course, with so many people deferred a full year, there’s no telling when the people interviewed in Fall 2009 will actually start. Students in the class of 2010 are almost certainly not going to be getting offers from any firm other than the one with which they summered, and when (if) they start in 2010, they’ll be competing for space, and work, with the deferees from 2009.
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