Layoffs

ABA reveals $1.3M theft by a now-former staff member on tax form

The American Bar Association has posted a tax form that reveals a onetime staff member diverted about $1.3 million from the ABA over a period of eight years.

The ABA became aware of the theft by a nonmanagerial staff member last September, according to Form 990 (see page 118) and an interview with ABA Executive Director Jack Rives.

Jul 17, 2018 3:47 PM CDT

Husch Blackwell cuts about 40 lawyers through layoffs and retirements

Husch Blackwell says it is cutting about 40 partners and of counsel from its ranks through retirements and “year-end transitions.” The percentage of lawyers leaving the firm is around 4 percent, report the American Lawyer (sub. req.) and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “Given our firm’s size and scale, these attorney…

Nov 20, 2017 3:58 PM CST

Legal sector gains 100 jobs in August after sharp downturn in July

The legal sector gained just 100 jobs in August, according to information from the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics. Legal Week (sub. req.) covered the findings, released last Friday. The slight increase came after the sector lost 4,300 jobs in July to end a three-month streak of job gains.…

Sep 5, 2017 3:30 PM CDT

Legal sector loses 4,300 jobs in July to end streak of gains

A three-month streak of job gains in the legal sector ended has ended. The sector lost 4,300 jobs in July, according to preliminary, seasonally adjusted information from the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics. The Am Law Daily (sub. req.) covered the findings, released on Friday. Despite the drop, the…

Aug 7, 2017 12:21 PM CDT

Stoel Rives laying off 17 staffers; about half of law firm leaders report staff layoffs

Stoel Rives is laying off 17 administrative staffers as it changes its staffing model. Its decision is by no means unusual, according to a survey (PDF) this year by Altman Weil, the Am Law Daily (sub. req.) reports. The consulting firm’s survey found that 48 percent of the law firm…

Jul 27, 2017 12:32 PM CDT

Sedgwick confirms some staff layoffs after more partner departures

Sedgwick has laid off some staffers after at least eight partners left the firm to join other BigLaw rivals in the last few weeks. The latest partner losses follow the departures of 40 Sedgwick lawyers in Dallas and New Jersey, including 15 partners, at the start of the year, the…

Jun 21, 2017 9:30 AM CDT

Seyfarth reportedly lays off 40 lawyers and several staffers

Updtaed: Seyfarth Shaw has confirmed layoffs of lawyers and staff members, though the law firm didn’t specify how many were affected.

Sources say 40 lawyers and several staff members were laid off, according to Above the Law, which was first with the news, the Am Law Daily (sub. req.), Bloomberg Big Law Business and Crain’s Chicago Business.

May 17, 2017 8:50 AM CDT

Legal sector loses 1,500 jobs in March

Jobs in the legal sector have declined three months in a row, according to seasonally adjusted figures released on Friday by the Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics. According to the preliminary data, the legal sector lost 1,500 jobs in in March, the Am Law Daily (sub. req.) and…

Apr 7, 2017 3:40 PM CDT

K&L Gates reportedly lays off several staffers

K&L Gates reportedly laid off a number of staffers at several of its offices earlier this month. Unnamed sources told Above the Law that offices affected included Seattle, Chicago, Dallas and Pittsburgh. The Legal Intelligencer (sub. req.) followed with its own story, which is also based on unidentified sources. Staffers…

Feb 13, 2017 9:30 AM CST

Law firm says it’s downsizing because of ‘unfair allegations’ in barratry suit

A Texas insurance-coverage law firm is blaming a barratry class action for a decision to “significantly downsize.” The law firm Speights & Worrich says it’s downsizing because of the “false and unfair allegations” in the suit, Forbes reports in an article by a reporter who writes for the Southeast Texas…

Oct 7, 2016 2:04 PM CDT

DLA Piper to lay off 180 in the UK

DLA Piper will eliminate 180 jobs in the United Kingdom as it seeks to move more of its business support roles to its new Warsaw office. In a Friday post in Legal Business, it was reported that the move comes after a two-year review process where the firm sought to…

Sep 2, 2016 11:55 AM CDT

Law firm market ‘stumbled’ in second quarter; rising headcount is partly to blame

The legal market was “blindsided” in the second quarter by slumping demand for legal services, along with rising expenses and falling productivity, according to a report by Thomson Reuters Peer Monitor. Demand for legal services, as measured by billable hours, dropped by 0.9 percent in the second quarter of 2016,…

Aug 2, 2016 9:23 AM CDT

DLA Piper says UK staff cuts won’t be repeated in US

DLA Piper is laying off up to 200 support staffers in the United Kingdom and is moving most of the positions to a Warsaw back-office operations center. The layoffs will be concentrated in the firm’s finance, human resources, technology, marketing and secretarial ranks, the Am Law Daily (sub. req.) reports.…

May 12, 2016 6:51 AM CDT

Kenyon & Kenyon is neither canceling nor guaranteeing its summer associate program

Is intellectual property law firm Kenyon & Kenyon canceling its summer associate program this year? Not officially, the law firm says in an equivocal statement. The law firm responded to Above the Law after tipsters told the blog the summer associate program has been canceled. “This is not the case,”…

Apr 14, 2016 9:20 AM CDT

As its stock hovers near a record low, Slater & Gordon GC resigns after two months

Moana Weir started work on Jan. 29 as in-house legal chief and company secretary for Slater & Gordon, the Australia-based personal injury Goliath that made history by becoming the world’s first law firm to go public. But last month, after less than 60 days on the job and after law…

Apr 5, 2016 12:05 PM CDT