Midlevel Associates Rank McKee Nelson Best for Handling Layoffs

When McKee Nelson laid off 17 associates and 15 staffers last November, the firm’s co-founder William Nelson told the Wall Street Journal Law Blog, “This is market-driven, not the fault of these kids.”

That kind of approach helped make McKee Nelson top-ranked for its handling of layoffs in a survey of midlevel associates by the American Lawyer. “In a year filled with disappointment, how the bad news was delivered and how departures were characterized mattered,” the American Lawyer says. The firms that scored best made it clear that cutbacks were due to the economy.

After McKee Nelson, the five top-ranked firms for how they handled layoffs and communicated the news were: Nutter McClennen & Fish; Michael Best & Friedrich; Stradley Ronon; and Patton Boggs.

The five lowest scoring firms: Winston & Strawn; White & Case; Dewey & LeBoueuf; Shearman & Sterling; and Sutherland Asbill.