Legal News

Report: Lawyer Cuts Continue in Chicago, Jenner Fires 10 Partners

By Dan Slater

The NLJ is reporting that Chicago-based Jenner & Block recently notified “about 10 partners, both equity and non-equity,” that they should prepare to leave the firm. No particular practice area is more affected than others, reports the NLJ.

The firm declined to comment to the NLJ, but its managing partner, Susan Levy, said in a statement: “In this economy, all well-managed law firms, including Jenner & Block, must assess operations, staffing and expenses on a continuing basis. . .In this economy, we have to be particularly vigilant and are taking a hard look at every area of expense.”

As the NLJ notes, larger Chicago firms Katten Muchin and Sonnenschein earlier this month also cut attorneys, with Sonnenschein laying off about 25 attorneys and a larger number of support staff and Katten cutting 21 associate and counsel.

Back in March, we noted that Jenner told 10 partners that they would either have to give up their equity status or, in some cases, leave the firm.

The Law Blog’s call to Jenner was not immediately returned.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on October 21, 2008 (boomark / email).