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&lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;FONT-SIZE: 12pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: &#39;Times New Roman&#39;,&#39;serif&#39;&quot;&gt;Layoffs at Latham seem all but inevitable. The rumor mill has reached critical mass and the firm has declined to comment. And as a great man said, &amp;#8220;But silence too is eloquent.&amp;#8221;&lt;?xml:namespace prefix=&quot;o&quot; ns=&quot;urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office&quot;?&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;FONT-SIZE: 12pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: &#39;Times New Roman&#39;,&#39;serif&#39;&quot;&gt;This year, for obvious topical reasons, we&amp;#8217;ve added a &amp;#8220;Business Outlook&amp;#8221; question to our Associate Survey:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt&quot;&gt;&lt;i style=&quot;mso-bidi-font-style: normal&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;FONT-SIZE: 12pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: &#39;Times New Roman&#39;,&#39;serif&#39;&quot;&gt;What do you think is the overall business outlook for your firm? Talk about any strengths and weaknesses in competition, employee morale, etc., that would be helpful for someone considering employment at this firm&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;FONT-SIZE: 12pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: &#39;Times New Roman&#39;,&#39;serif&#39;&quot;&gt;.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;FONT-SIZE: 12pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: &#39;Times New Roman&#39;,&#39;serif&#39;&quot;&gt;Our 2009 survey is ongoing and will continue at least through the end of March.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Below is a small selection of Latham associates&amp;#8217; responses&amp;#8212;thus far&amp;#8212;to the Business Outlook question.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;(All of these responses predate this morning&amp;#8217;s ATL post linked above.)&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;The responses show that most Latham associates were admirably clear-eyed about the reality of their circumstances.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;For every apparent Kool Aid drinker (e.g., &amp;#8220;&lt;i style=&quot;mso-bidi-font-style: normal&quot;&gt;Our firm is very open about its decisions and thought processes in dealing with the economy right now. A priority is no de-equitization and no layoffs, even if that means lower partner profits and a salary freeze&lt;/i&gt;.&amp;#8221;), there are a dozen colleagues who saw which way the wind was blowing.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;A small sample:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt&quot;&gt;&lt;i style=&quot;mso-bidi-font-style: normal&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;FONT-SIZE: 12pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: &#39;Times New Roman&#39;,&#39;serif&#39;&quot;&gt;&amp;#8220;I think associates here believe layoffs are imminent. The firm published a huge drop in profitability. Considering how much the firm grew in recent years, it seems like the downside could be equally as huge. I would assume the firm has to shed quite a bit of its associate ranks to be competitive in the new economy.&amp;#8221;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt&quot;&gt;&lt;i style=&quot;mso-bidi-font-style: normal&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;FONT-SIZE: 12pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: &#39;Times New Roman&#39;,&#39;serif&#39;&quot;&gt;&amp;#8220;Morale is so low it&#39;s impossible to get any work done--associates constantly check blogs and speculate. Many rumors are unfounded and cause undue stress. We are all frantically looking for jobs.&amp;#8221;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt&quot;&gt;&lt;i style=&quot;mso-bidi-font-style: normal&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;FONT-SIZE: 12pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: &#39;Times New Roman&#39;,&#39;serif&#39;&quot;&gt;&amp;#8220;Major clients are bankrupt, we have over-hired, receivables are down and there&#39;s no reason to think our finance guys and real estate guys will have any billable work to do in the near future.&amp;#8221;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;FONT-SIZE: 12pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: &#39;Times New Roman&#39;,&#39;serif&#39;&quot;&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;The&amp;nbsp;best response so far:&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt&quot;&gt;&lt;i style=&quot;mso-bidi-font-style: normal&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;FONT-SIZE: 12pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: &#39;Times New Roman&#39;,&#39;serif&#39;&quot;&gt;&amp;#8220;If you saw two ships coming around the Horn of Africa, and one had everyone on deck and was having a party, and the other had all the hatches closed and everyone below decks, which ship would you think was better poised for what was yet to come? Latham is prepared, sir.&amp;#8221;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;FONT-SIZE: 12pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: &#39;Times New Roman&#39;,&#39;serif&#39;&quot;&gt;Though I&#39;m not sure what that means exactly.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;FONT-SIZE: 12pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: &#39;Times New Roman&#39;,&#39;serif&#39;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; -posted by brian&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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