Dechert to 13 Associates: You’re Fired … No, You’re Not

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Law Practice Management

Dechert to 13 Associates: You’re Fired … No, You’re Not

Posted Mar 3, 2008, 02:41 pm CDT
By Martha Neil

Updated: After notifying 13 real estate and finance associates last week that they were being laid off, apparently because of a slowing economy, Dechert has reportedly changed its mind.

The 13, who were originally told to depart the Philadelphia-based international firm by the close of business tomorrow, as discussed in an earlier ABAJournal.com post, have now been given a reprieve. In a press release, Barton Winokur, the firm's chairman, says the 13 will be given a chance to move to other practice groups, according to the Wall Street Journal Law Blog.

“Due to the major shift in market conditions affecting client demands in our finance and real estate practice area, we currently do not have sufficient work for all the associates in FRE,” writes Winokur. “As a consequence, we have told 13 associates in the U.S. FRE group that we see no demand for them in that group in the foreseeable future. However, due to increased and substantial demand in other practice areas, we will be offering those lawyers the opportunity to work in those other groups.”

The option of moving to another practice group, however, reportedly only provides another 60 days of guaranteed employment, as discussed in a subsequent ABAJournal.com post.

Updated at 1:47 p.m., central time, March 4, 2008, to provide link to new ABAJournal.com post.

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