Perhaps October was the anomaly, as November’s layoffs were the second fewest in 2009.
We thought that might be the result of firms’ reticence to lay people off around the holidays, but there was no such reluctance this time last year, layoffs were way down compared to November 2008 as well.
The details, after the jump.
First, a chart of the past 13 months:
In November 2009, 172 people (69 lawyers, 103 staff) were reported as laid off from major law firms. Not only is that below the previous month’s totals (61 lawyers, 160 staff in October), but it’s barely one third of last year’s count (256 lawyers, 276 staff in November 2008). Last year there was a slight holiday dip in December (175 lawyers, 277 staff), before things exploded.
While fewer people were laid off, almost as many firms laid people off last month as in October (7 vs 8).
Clifford Chance continues to spin the wheel o’ layoffs, with eight more lawyers gone (again, check the methodology – voluntary redundancy=redundancy) in November that brings the firm’s total number of rounds to 13 – easily lapping the field.
Stealth layoffs abound, as usual, and we’re certainly expecting more as the end-of-year review process begins. We thought there would have been more layoffs in October and early November, so we’ve been wrong before, but we think there will be an uptick in January. That will be political suicide, though, because announcing layoffs a month after other firms are announcing bonuses will look absolutely awful. So while reported layoffs may wane, stealth layoffs should see a serious rise. And remember, unless you’re writing erotica under your real (albeit implausible) name or there are otherwise inarguable reasons for cause, we don’t buy “performance-based layoffs” in this market.
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