Law Firms
Reed Smith Cuts 115 Support Staff, 11 Associates
Posted Dec 3, 2008 5:19 PM CST
By Molly McDonough
BigLaw firm Reed Smith, just in the news for picking up laterals from Thelen, is tightening up elsewhere by cutting support staff and associates.
The firm announced today in a firmwide memo first reported on the legal tabloid Above the Law that because of the economic downturn, it is letting go 115 support staff from offices in the United States and cutting 11 associates from its office in London.
In a Q&A with the Am Law Daily blog, Reed Smith managing partner Gregory Jordan said he expects more pain in 2009, but believes the firm is positioned well because it operates under a diversified model. "We're about 53 percent litigation, 47 percent transactional firmwide," he said. "That's a model that helps hedge in times like this and the litigation side is running ahead of pace. We hope and expect that to continue."
The interview concluded with this remark, "Our crystal ball is no clearer than anybody else's, but everything we hear tells us that we need to expect a pretty tough year for business."
See also:
Philadelphia Business Journal: "Reed Smith cutting some support staff"
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Comments
B. McLeod
Dec 3, 2008 6:38 PM CST
There you go. Got to make some room for those waves of “laterals.”
(“Taggart, you dad-blamed fool!! We can’t afford to lose any laterals—send out a couple of SOC8s!”)
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tim
Dec 4, 2008 8:01 AM CST
115 support and only 11 lawyers - does that mean all the clients of Reed Smith now have to pay $350 an hour for 1st year rookie lawyers to do secretarial work?
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B. McLeod
Dec 4, 2008 8:30 AM CST
It will be even better than that. Probably some deadlines missed and cases and transactions derailed while attorneys are figuring out how to image or locate files, or fill out those Fed Ex thingies. It is likely that all the support staff will find homes. Other firms will go after costs the other way, but cutting lawyers and using additional supervised support staff to cover many of their functions.
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BC
Dec 5, 2008 7:19 AM CST
Under-performing mid level associates and non-revenue generating partners are probably the next wave of people that RS is going to let go. In this year alone it appears that they have let go of close to 200 support staff. In Pittsburgh, where they are located, they are getting ready to move from their Reed Smith Building to become a tennant in a new building downtown with less office space.
In other biglaw news…KL&Gates;let a number of support staff go as well. They are doing it more discretely by doing so in small batches rather than huge chunks.
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no clients - no job
Dec 5, 2008 7:31 AM CST
Spoke to a friend this morning about a big Detroit firm. Non-revenue associates are the under the gun and likely seeing pink slips soon too. I think all non-revenue attorneys should be nervous.
If you can’t bring in the food you don’t eat.
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Bird Smack
Dec 5, 2008 9:45 AM CST
Tim, I don’t know where you work, but never have I seen a first-year associate bill at $350/hour.
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BC
Dec 5, 2008 10:49 AM CST
In San Francisco, I have seen a second year attorney bill at $450 an hour. I don’t think they should be billing that much, but I had no standing to challenge the fees she was requesting, and no one else did, so whatever. But high billable hour rates for first and 2nd year associates do exist.
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Drowing in Supportwork
Dec 5, 2008 3:40 PM CST
I work at a firm that has eliminated all support staff. We are down to 1 paralegal and 2 people that have been reallocated to glorified secretary positions for 9 attorneys. I can’t begin to tell you how much time I now waste per day scanning because others do not know how even though I keep teaching, moving around electronic folders, doing FedExs, or making folder labels. And it’s not time I can bill out. I could just see the clients’ faces when they looked at the description and saw they just paid a few hundred dollars for scanning and mailing. Oh and we do have 1st years that bill in the $300s/hour.
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mcleary
Dec 5, 2008 5:02 PM CST
HMMM HERE IN SE PENNSYLVANIA I AM ONLY BILLING AT $200/HOUR AND HAVE 29 YEARS OF LITIGATION EXPERIENCE
WHEN IN A RECESSION THEN I GUESS I JUST RAISE MY RATES AND DO THE OPPOSITE OF EVERYONE ELSE !
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success ademiluyi
Dec 5, 2008 9:18 PM CST
i am hopeful that the obama regime would bring a turnaroumd and affect our firms positively
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Billing Rates
Dec 5, 2008 9:50 PM CST
Wow, I’m a first year associate billing at $150/hr here in Florida and I have an LLM in Tax.
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B. McLeod
Dec 6, 2008 1:41 AM CST
McLeary: great use of caps. Wish we could see that more often.
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LawBoy
Dec 7, 2008 9:47 AM CST
Billing Rates, $150/hour… umm, that’s because nobody is going to pay more than that for tax services when they can get a temp H&R Block worker to do the same work for $10/hour. Sorry, tax services is not a hotbed commodity.
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Rick
Dec 7, 2008 1:14 PM CST
I share a secretary with two other attorneys at Biglaw. She spends most of her time surfing the Internet and making personal phone calls. And its easy to scan documents and prepare FedEx packages, anyone can do it.
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B. McLeod
Dec 7, 2008 6:44 PM CST
Anyone but a pointy-haired partner. They can’t even put one line on “hold” and pick up another, or figure out how to “conference,” or “transfer” a call, or present a power-point, or get the copier to “duplex.” Giving one a laser pointer is a textbook example of “negligent entructment.”
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Former Secretary/Current Lawyer
Dec 8, 2008 9:25 PM CST
Rick, maybe that secretary is surfing the web because you’re not creating enough work for her. It’s easy to blame the secretary. Problem is, no one looks inward. The biggest, most effective way to cut costs, is to cut the associates or servicing partners, who often can’t even figure out how to read the statutes or rule book, but woud prefer come to their secretaries for advice on e-filings, or simple proof of service matters.
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