Blog Notes ‘Extraordinarily High Rate of Staff-Alone Layoffs’

Law firms laying off associates often ax two to three times more support staffers, and in some cases it’s the staffers alone who are being fired.

Law21 notes the trend and comments on the “extraordinarily high rate of staff-alone layoffs.” The blog speculates on the reasons. Law firms may fear news of lawyer layoffs will hurt recruitment “so it’s the secretaries, paralegals, IT and marketing people who get the heave.” Maybe law firms were overstaffed. And maybe some associates are handling administrative tasks themselves in an effort to boost billable hours.

“It’s also very likely that in many of these cases, the firms either don’t realize or don’t care about the negative effects of deep, across-the-board staff cuts,” says the blog entry by legal editor Jordan Furlong. It notes possible morale problems and long-term implications of staff cuts in key areas such as marketing.

A more creative approach could help law firms better position themselves for the long-term, according to Law21. Lawyers should get voice recognition software so they don’t have to type or dictate memos. More functions could be outsourced. Jobs could be saved through “upsizing”—giving support staffers new and important responsibilities. For example, legal secretaries could become workflow managers, and marketers could do cross-selling at client meetings.

“There’s a better way to cut costs than simply throwing staff overboard while keeping lawyers around—all it requires is a little more ingenuity,” the blog says.