Ethics

Law prof Joan Williams and her colleagues at the Project for Attorney Retention (PAR) argue that it would be more economically sensible for firms to reduce attorney hours (and pay) than to lay off attorneys:

The scenario that PAR examines in its analysis is a law firm practice group with six associates who each make a $200,000 salary. Taking into account the associates' salary and benefits as well as three month of severance and outplacement assistance, the firm stands to save about $211,000 by laying off one associate. But if those six associates reduced their schedules and compensation by 20%, the firm would save $240,000, and would be able to reinstate full hours if work picked up for the practice area.



The rationale behind firm layoffs is that the work handled by laid-off attorneys will be transferred to remaining attorneys, and will fill out their workdays. But PAR argues that because not every attorney has the same skill set, a certain portion of the laid-off attorney's work will not transfer to the remaining attorneys. According to PAR, it is reasonable to assume that if a laid-off attorney was billing 1,500 hours annually, only 1,200 of those hours would actually transfer over, leaving the firm with a 20% billing loss.