Legal News

Layoffs cut deeper at firms "not large enough to be emotionally detached"

By Richard Binder

In the past several months, numerous law firms have laid off lawyers and staff members as the financial crisis dips into their bottom line. At some of the nation's largest law firms, such as White & Case and Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, which announced layoffs this month, dozens of lawyers have been affected.

While the numbers might not seem as startling, layoffs at smaller firms have the added pain of cutting into an already lean operation.

Los Angeles law firm Richardson & Patel had never let anyone go in its 23 years, but then the financial crisis took its toll. In an attempt to avoid layoffs, the firm scrapped expansion plans and shifted associates to other groups, such as the bankruptcy and China practices. But by August, the numbers still weren't looking good. Read the NLJ story about how Nimish Patel's firm has coped with having to cut into an a 50-lawyer operation that feels like family.

Full post as published by Legal Pad | LA on November 24, 2008 (boomark / email).