Fish & Richardson Confirms Lawyer Layoffs; 49 Have Left Since November

The intellectual property law firm Fish & Richardson says it has fired 49 lawyers since November, and some of the dismissals were for financial reasons.

A statement released on Friday also confirmed the layoffs of 30 support staffers, according to Above the Law and the Daily Journal.

Last week, Above the Law published an internal memo about the staff layoffs and noted that several tipsters were reporting “stealth layoffs” of lawyers.

A Fish & Richardson statement released Friday ended the speculation on lawyer layoffs, saying the firm was adjusting staffing levels to meet its clients' changing business needs.

"Many of these departures occurred as the result of year-end performance evaluations,” according to a statement by the firm. "But others were based on purely economic decisions."