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838 ABA Journal Layoffs articles.

Labor Stats Show Loss of 9,700 Legal Jobs in One Year’s Time

The legal sector has lost 9,700 jobs in just one year, including 1,100 positions in May and 1,900 in April, according to seasonally adjusted statistics from the U.S. Labor Department. The sector has seen losses for three consecutive months, the American Lawyer reports. The legal services sector includes lawyers, paralegals,…

Jun 9, 2008 11:45 AM CDT

Layoff Watch: Ballard Spahr, Blank Rome, Reed Smith Shed Lawyers, Staff

Three more law firms have fired or laid off employees, but only one attributed the reason to the economic downturn. According to the Legal Intelligencer, the law firms are: • Blank Rome, which cut nine associates after their annual reviews. Six were from Philadelphia, two were from New York and…

Jun 5, 2008 11:15 AM CDT

Sonnenschein Layoffs Signal Sea Change in Law Firm PR Strategy

An announcement that Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal is laying off 37 lawyers and 87 staffers was noteworthy for the size of the reduction alone. But even more noteworthy, perhaps, is the fact that the more than 700-attorney Chicago-based international law firm took a highly nontraditional approach to the reduction in…

May 29, 2008 4:21 PM CDT

Sonnenschein Acknowledges Layoffs of 37 Lawyers, 87 Staffers

Updated: Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal is laying off 37 lawyers and 87 staff members, spread across practice groups and offices. Twenty-seven of the lawyers are associates, six are partners and four are of counsel. The staffers asked to leave include 41 secretaries, 34 other support staffers, and 12 “timekeepers” such…

May 28, 2008 10:29 AM CDT

DC’s New AG Axes 10 Attorneys, Increases Oversight

The days of blue jeans and considerable lawyer autonomy are reportedly over at the Washington, D.C., attorney general’s office. Although he hasn’t decided for sure whether he’ll stay in the post after June, Peter Nickles, who took over as attorney general in December, has moved to fire 10 staff lawyers…

May 23, 2008 7:48 PM CDT

Humor Columnist Takes Aim at Stealth Layoffs

A humor columnist notes that law firms are reluctant to admit they are suffering from the economic downturn. As a result, they use a number of strategies to lay off unlucky associates in a surreptitious manner. One strategy is the stealth layoff, the columnist known as “The Snark” writes for…

May 23, 2008 11:29 AM CDT

Bingham Lays Off 17 Bay Area Staffers

Bingham McCutchen has laid off 17 San Francisco area support staffers. San Francisco managing partner Geoffrey Howard said the layoffs in his office amounted to 5 percent to 10 percent of the staff, the Recorder reports. Twelve staffers were laid off in San Francisco and five in the Silicon Valley.…

May 22, 2008 10:32 AM CDT

Holland & Knight Lays Off 70 Legal Secretaries

Holland & Knight is laying off 70 legal secretaries, about 5 percent of its support staff. The move comes after a small decline in the firm’s gross revenue last year, the Daily Business Review reports. Firm spokeswoman Susan Bass told the publication the layoffs were a result of a review…

May 21, 2008 10:51 AM CDT

Real Estate Firm Cuts Lawyer Pay by 12 Percent

A South Florida law firm hit hard by the real estate downturn has cut its lawyers’ pay by 12 percent. If its financial situation improves, Becker & Poliakoff will make up for the salary cuts with retroactive pay for lawyers who stick with the firm, the Daily Business Review reports.…

May 20, 2008 11:20 AM CDT

Lawyers ‘in the Middle’ at Most at Risk of Firings

At big law firms, midlevel lawyers are at the greatest risk of being laid off in the economic downturn. Dan Weiner, co-chair of the personnel committee at Hughes Hubbard, told the Wall Street Journal Law Blog that junior associates may be safer than their more senior counterparts because their abilities…

May 12, 2008 11:08 AM CDT

Ousted Paul Hastings Associate Explains Scathing Mass E-Mail

Updated: An associate fired from Paul Hastings six days after her miscarriage says she sent a mass e-mail criticizing the action to support other ousted lawyers who “left the firm with their tails under their legs.” The associate, Shinyung Oh, spoke to the Wall Street Journal Law Blog yesterday evening,…

May 9, 2008 10:28 AM CDT

Law Firms Seek, Unsuccessfully, to Keep Associate Disputes Private

Once upon a time, associates who were let go by their law firms tiptoed quietly out the door, perhaps after several months spent “working” at their desks to find another position. But today, when the power of the Internet can help them sweeten the terms of their severance deals, many…

May 8, 2008 9:13 PM CDT

Heller Rewards Rainmakers, But Some Storm Away

Changes at Heller Ehrman that were designed to improve profitability have upset some longtime partners, spurring some of them to leave. Twenty-five partners left the firm last year, and so far this year, 16 have departed, the American Lawyer reports. Some of the recent lawyer departures may have been because…

May 5, 2008 4:14 PM CDT

Shearman Axes In-House General Counsel Job

Shearman & Sterling has decided to buck the trend by eliminating the full-time position of general counsel. John Shutkin was hired as full-time general counsel in 2004 to oversee risk management, the American Lawyer reports. Shutkin told the Lawyer he is leaving the firm because his job has been eliminated.…

May 5, 2008 12:54 PM CDT

Cadwalader Shrinks Summer Associate Program

Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft is hiring only 58 summer associates this year, down from 101 law students who participated in the program last year. With fewer summer associates, the firm can assign more “real work” and cultivate a better experience, says hiring committee chair Paul Mourning. Cadwalader recently laid off…

May 5, 2008 12:25 PM CDT

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