Legal News

MoFo, Linklaters to Cut Deeply

By Dan Slater

Even though, these days, layoffs seem to spark far less commotion than they did this time last year, we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention the following two massive law firm cuts:

201: West Coast firm Morrison & Foerster is cutting 201 jobs — 53 attorneys and 148 staff. Here’s a statement from the firm. Here’s a story from the Recorder.

The firm issued a statement saying the layoffs were meant “to align our firm with client needs in this extraordinary economic downturn.” Associates and staff from around the country at all levels of seniority were affected by the cuts, sources told the Recorder. More than 5 percent of the firm’s 1,000 attorneys were laid off.

As the Recorder notes, MoFo has cut more people, in this cycle, than any other Bay Area firm. In November, Orrick laid off 40 lawyers and 35 staff in November. Cooley cut 52 lawyers and 62 staff earlier this month. On Monday, Wilson Sonsini laid off 45 lawyers and 68 staff.

270: In what appears to be the largest round of layoffs thus far, Linklaters has announced “a formal redundancy consultation with up to 120 lawyers and 150 business support staff in London expected to lose their jobs.” News of the layoffs was first reported last week by the the Lawyer. Here’s another report from Legal Week.

All UK staff are involved in the consultation which is likely to see between 100-120 lawyers — representing up to 17.5% of the firm’s UK non-partner fee earners — and 130-150 business services staff losing their jobs, notes legal Weeks. Partner cuts may also be in the offing.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on January 29, 2009 (boomark / email).