Layoffs a ‘Blessing’ for Now-Liberated Former BigLaw Attorneys, Writer Says

Few may have realized it when Calawalader Wickersham & Taft last July became the first major firm to initiate what eventually became a tsunami of BigLaw associate layoffs during the past year.

But Calwalader and the other law firms involved were actually doing many associates a favor, writes attorney Dan Slater in the DealBook blog of the New York Times today.

"These layoffs, ­ which in many cases have been paired with salary freezes or cuts and significant reductions in law school recruiting, ­ are the best thing to happen to the legal industry in years. Call it a blessing amid recession," he says.

In addition to cutting costs for corporate clients, lawyer layoffs have effectively saved attorneys from their own high-billing selves, Slater contends. As with a romantic relationship gone bad, only a forced exit from the pressure of law practice can make clear to some that they are better off without it, he says. "What they needed all along was liberation. Now they have it."

A former writer for the Wall Street Journal Law Blog, Slater is now a freelance journalist.