Tennessee Law Firm Bass Berry Lays Off 10 Associates, 22 Staffers

Bass Berry & Sims has laid off 10 associates and 22 staff members at its three offices in Tennessee.

Managing partner Keith Simmons told the Nashville Business Journal that the cuts were “proportionally divided” among the offices in Nashville, Knoxville and Memphis, and all practice areas were affected.

The story says the firm has also frozen some pay raises, deferred associate start dates by four months and limited its summer associate class.

The cuts represent 5 percent of the firm's lawyers and 9 percent of its staffers, according to a report in the Nashville Post (sub. req.) summarized by Above the Law. A tipster who told Above the Law of the layoffs called the move a “Bassacre.”

Corporate Board Member magazine had ranked Bass Berry as Nashville’s best law firm for corporate law for eight years in a row.