In-house Counsel
‘Feeding Frenzy’ Over Expected Lawyer Layoffs at Bear Stearns
Posted Mar 20, 2008, 10:30 am CDT
By Martha Neil
Updated: Although it's not yet confirmed, observers expect that a significant number of the 100 or so lawyers in the compliance department of Bear Stearns Cos. will be laid off once the investment bank's buyout at a fire-sale price by JPMorgan Chase is completed.
So legal recruiters are hovering, hoping to score some of the big names at Bear for other opportunities, reports the Lawyer, in what it characterizes as a "feeding frenzy."
While the job market is tough right now, as other banks and law firms also are affected by the same mortgage meltdown and worldwide credit crunch that is credited with causing Bear Stearns' near-collapse, opportunities still abound for some attorneys. Big corporate deals have slowed down, but medium-size private equity deals and purchases of distressed assets have not, and the current market is encouraging banks and investors to eye new collateralized debt obligations, Reuters reports.
"There is still an awful lot of business around," says partner Ken Baird, who heads the bankruptcy practice at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.
However, public sympathy isn't necessarily on the side of those losing their jobs, an unnamed partner tells the Lawyer in a subsequent article: "On the whole, Bear Stearns' legal team was pretty highly regarded for its technical skills and abilities. But there's not a lot of warm and fuzzy feeling for it out on the street."
Updated at 3:30 p.m., central time, March 26, 2008, to include new coverage by the Lawyer.
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Comments
Posted by Burt Kahn - 6 months, 3 weeks, 19 hours, 58 minutes ago
this is very interesting
Posted by Mick DeBruin - 6 months, 3 weeks, 18 hours, 19 minutes ago
Does this mean these guys will be picked up somewhere else? I thought the job market was lousy. Are these guys better than the average schmoes on the street? I don’t think so. They are just going to join the ranks of the unemployed. Poor bastards. But for the grace of GAWD go I.
Posted by tom foolery - 6 months, 3 weeks, 17 hours, 42 minutes ago
100 lawyers? doesnt bear stearns have more than that? and isnt there a legal dept? compliance isnt always lawyers…
Posted by A.K - 6 months, 3 weeks, 16 hours, 43 minutes ago
Yes.... There are other lawyers and the job market is lousy, but the truth is the job market is only lousy for the average folk. When you talk about experienced people in experienced positions (accounting, finance, legal) they never have a problem with getting a job. The people that will mostly be affected are the secretaries, assitants etc.. The big time lawyers will have no problem getting jobs. Especially considering that a year from now there will be soo much litigation from the current economic fallout.
Posted by MS - 6 months, 3 weeks, 12 hours, 48 minutes ago
Wouldn’t there be a good chance that at least some of that legal department will be picked up by JP Morgan to continue to handle that end of the business?