An Ugly Thursday

Which firms won’t lay off associates in the next couple of months?  This has replaced “which firms will?” as fodder for speculative frenzy among the ATL commentariat. 

Today was among BigLaw’s bleakest in this downturn, with at least three major firms acknowledging associate layoffs:  Brown Rudnick (20 attorneys terminated), Squire Sanders (30) and Mayer Brown (33—and the firm’s press release notes that “This reduction does not include lawyers who were asked to leave this year through our performance review process” —so who knows what the real number is). 

We will be reaching out to all the the Vault 100 law firms on the subject of layoffs.  Obviously, there will be a lot of "no comment" replies, but we'll see if any firms will take the opportunity to preempt the rumor mill.

Here is is a sign of the times: Vault's brand new and comprehensive "Layoff Tracker."   Law is just one of the many industries covered.

                                                                    -posted by brian