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Layoffs

BigLaw Voice Mail to Young Attorneys: ‘It’s Not Good News, But Give Us a Call’

Posted Jun 15, 2009 12:58 PM CST
By Martha Neil

When one of London's most elite law partnerships recently decided it had to let 14 solicitor trainees go instead of giving them permanent jobs, partners at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer had the magic circle firm's human resources department give them a call.

But when HR couldn't immediately reach all of the 14, they left a voice mail message for three or four, a firm spokesman tells the Daily Mail.

The message stated: "It's not good news, but give us a call so we can discuss it further," the newspaper recounts.

'It was not ideal from our perspective, but we were trying to get the information out as soon as possible," the unidentified Freshfields spokesman states. "We did not want to take the chance of them hearing first from someone else."

Adding insult to injury, the newspaper says, Freshfields is paying the laid-off trainee lawyers only about $1,140, although Freshfields would not confirm the amount. Other major United Kingdom-based law firms reportedly are paying tens of thousands of dollars to trainee lawyers whose start dates they've deferred.

Hat tip: Legal Blog Watch.

Comments

1.

B. McLeod
Jun 15, 2009 3:25 PM CST

“Magic circle.”  Aye.  The redundancies are probably determined by the “sorting hat.”

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2.

barely left freedom of speeeeeeeeeech hell
Jun 17, 2009 7:32 AM CST

Comment removed by moderator.

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3.

me again till ? you be the judge as goes the cur
Jun 17, 2009 7:45 AM CST

Comment removed by moderator.

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4.

B. McLeod
Jun 17, 2009 8:38 AM CST

Well, certainly that’s the Republican position, and I am not prepared to be judgmentally critical of it as yet.

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5.

Steven A. Ager, M.D.
Jun 19, 2009 2:29 AM CST

Nearly 30 years ago, while watching Saturday Night Live with my wife, the phone rang. At the time, I had been employed as a psychiatrist on the Temple Medical School service at a research and teaching hospital funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. “Western Union calling with a telegram for Dr. Steven Ager.” the caller said. “Your position has been terminated. Report to the personnel office on Tuesday to process your paperwork.”
I burst out laughing and said to my wife,“Well, Hon, I guess we’ll have to hunker down.” The then Gov. Dick Thornburgh had decided to get the state out of the hospital business and let us all go. One man in accounting shot himself, many went on unemployment, and I entered private practice, eventually becoming interested in researching depression in lawyers. And no, I didn’t get a severance package.

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6.

Jerry Vastano
Jun 19, 2009 4:34 AM CST

When the economy swings back to one of prosperity and firms like this are needing to hire young, talented attorneys, they will have a difficult time, given the way they treat their so-called “human resource”.  This is an abomination.

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7.

Fred
Jun 19, 2009 5:50 AM CST

May be an abomination, but seems about right for biglaw.  Associates are but another resource to be managed and controlled.  Like photocopies and telephone systems.  Sometimes the resource is perceived to be less valuable than others.  I say this as one in a biglaw firm.

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8.

paul k
Jun 19, 2009 6:49 AM CST

What does #4 mean by “that’s the republican position”?

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9.

CM
Jun 19, 2009 6:55 AM CST

I disagree with #6 - these firms will not have a hard time hiring young attorneys.  They are the same firms with the same policies and attitudes they were before the layoffs, and, most importantly to the fresh graduates, the same pay scales.  The thought process will also be the same:  I can stand it for a while, even if I get laid off in a callous fashion a year down the road, because I will work for a prestigious firm and make $xxx,xxx in the meantime.

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10.

B. McLeod
Jun 19, 2009 7:03 AM CST

Sorry, # 8, that was addressed to the two posts the Mollerator subsequently removed.

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11.

Garp
Jun 19, 2009 7:23 AM CST

#8, apparently it was “the wingnut position” judging by the fact it was removed.

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12.

KJ
Jun 19, 2009 8:21 AM CST

This article is misleading.  A trainee solicitor has a fixed term contract of 2 years, at the end of which the firm may or may not offer a permanent position.  Failing to offer a permanent position does not come under the unfair dismissal legislation, and therefore the concept of redundancy is irrelevant.  Freshfields are not obliged to pay their ex-trainees anything.  Contrast this with genuine ‘layoffs’, where qualified solicitors are given notice (usually 3 months) that their services are no longer required - if they have been employed for a year or more, then they are entitled to a statutory redundancy payment, the size of which is determined by how long they have worked for that employer.

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13.

deb
Jun 19, 2009 8:27 AM CST

Good points, #12

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14.

William
Jun 19, 2009 8:51 AM CST

As we used to joke when I was an associate, associates are fungible billing units.  It may not be fun, but it is the same at every firm and I imagine the long term effects on the firm will not be too bad.  Young attorneys will still want jobs at large firms.

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15.

Kalifornia Arnold
Jun 19, 2009 9:14 AM CST

I guess these associates “heard the cal”—What coward fires someone by Email? A friend of mine was laid off via a Federal Express package with his termination papers-when you positively have to screw someone overnight,

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16.

adamius
Jun 19, 2009 10:00 AM CST

they should have done it by singing telegram, and the severance package could at least have included coupons to their wonderful grocery stores.

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17.

LaborLady
Jun 19, 2009 1:28 PM CST

What is it really though? What are HR departments so afraid of? Is it that giving the termination news in person might ignite some display of human emotion for which human resources managers are not equipped to handle?

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18.

Gene
Jun 19, 2009 1:58 PM CST

It is heartening to this old work-a-day lawyer that after so many years of sycophantic exaltation of the sharp practiices and outrageous billing and compensation schemes of Big Law the ABA Journal has turned on those former idols and now reports their fall into ignominy with gusto.

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19.

B. McLeod
Jun 19, 2009 9:54 PM CST

Because it is now (belatedly) obvious even to the Big Law castaways and halflings that those idols had feet of clay.

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20.

George Sly
Jun 20, 2009 12:24 PM CST

I have worked in corporations of one kind or another all my life, and big law firms despite many being partnerships, operate the same way as other large business entities.  Everyone is disposable and is only ther to help the owners make a profit.  I remember when one office I worked in was shut down, the person who had to make the announcement in my department was close to tears and the woman from personnell was grinning.  It does not matter that we have advanced degrees and that we are professionals.  Unless you have the business acumen and the contacts to go solo, you are just a cog in the wheel and easily replaced, just like any other worker.

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21.

Bryan
Jun 20, 2009 2:37 PM CST

I fail to see how they were being cowards.  They called everybody, they asked for a return call if they didn’t get through.  No, they didn’t give much compensation for the layoff, but it sounds to me like they were at least willing to talk to the person directly.  “it’s not good news, but please call so we can discuss it” suggests “you’re being laid off” enough that it won’t come as a shock if they hear it from someone else.

Yes, it would have been better to do it in person, but it quite possibly saved some of these people a bit of travel time.

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22.

Screwed by too Many Lawyers
Jun 22, 2009 2:23 PM CST

I was terminated by e-mail on a Friday afternoon when I was out of the office.

The firm’s “administrator” had never responded to several requests to activate e-mail access through my Palm phone.

When I showed up the next Monday morning, my password had been changed and I could not access the computer to even GET the e-mail.

That firm has since imploded, in less than a year.  Down to half the attorneys, including two partners leaving the shop. The leadership deserves a pox on their houses.

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