Legal Commentary

A Followup On Truth

By Patrick J. Lamb

Can I admit that I occasionally ready Above the Law, a blog about law firms?  It's like The Enquirer, which I only read while standing in supermarket lines.  On alternate Tuesdays.  Okay, enough self-disclosure.

ATL has a great entry about Citibank's recent analysis of the economic decline at large law firms.  One of the points made by Dan DiPietro is this one, certain to make associates feel warm and fuzzy:

"There is a silver lining. A bad year (and the numbers suggest 2008 will be even more trying than 2001, when partner profits were down slightly) will enable firms to take steps that partners would resist in a good year -- winnowing out unproductive lawyers and applying greater discipline to expense control."

This is read by the associates as code for "FIRE A BUNCH OF ASSOCIATES" since they are the largest expense item in law firms.  But here's what the ATL author said that brought a smile to my face:

If you need to winnow people out, fine. The pain has to be spread around in times of trouble. But don't insult people on their way out the door. Just once, wouldn't you like to read an honest layoff memo?

"Dear Plebeians,

We run a highly successful pyramid scheme. Unfortunately, the economy is tanking. Therefore, the following 50 associates had their names drawn out of a hat, and the results have been certified by PricewaterhouseCoopers. Sorry about this, but some of our unproductive equity partners are having difficulty making it rain.

Respectfully,
The Capstone"

Truth will always have something to which it can aspire.

Full post as published by In Search of Perfect Client Service on August 22, 2008 (boomark / email).