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Search results for tag "Crisis"

• Dewey & LeBoeuf has until the end of the month to negotiate debt problem

  Apr 27 2012 Reports are circulating that troubled New York law firm Dewey & LeBoeuf is facing serious debt problems, and has until the end of the month to negotiate extending a... more

• Quinn Emanuel's winning strategy

  Sep 19 2011 Interesting article here on the success of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, who made the strategic decision a few years ago to step back from advising major banks... more

• DLA Piper hires Wolf Theiss team to boost Czech presence

  Mar 23 2011 US law firm DLA Piper has bolstered its practice in the Czech Republic with the hire of a team of lawyers from Austrian firm Wolf Theiss. The team is led by partners... more

• Why it took $642m in fees to dismantle Lehman

  Feb 22 2010 Lehman’s bankruptcy is believed to be the largest in US history. A new regulatory filing revealed that various consulting and legal firms and other lucky advisors... more

• Judiciary crisis in Pakistan

  Feb 15 2010 Justice Sharif, Justice Nisar reject govt decision Updated at: 1913 PST, Saturday, February 13, 2010 ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice Lahore High Court Justice Khwaja... more

• Cleary Gottlieb advises Iceland in Icesave dispute

  Feb 11 2010 The government of Iceland announced it had hired US law firm Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton as an advisor in a new round of negotiations with the United Kingdom and... more

• US job market: Law school no longer a safe bet

  Jan 28 2010 While law school may seem like a safe choice, there are not always jobs waiting at the end of the tunnel. In the current economy the law industry is facing lay-offs,... more

• Simmons blames global crisis as firm pulls plug on Moscow arm

  Oct 29 2009 Simmons & Simmons is to pull out of Russia little more than two years after launching its Moscow office. The top 15 City firm will start shutting down the base with... more

• UK regional law firms take drastic steps to avoid further job cuts

  Jul 21 2009 Regional law firms in the UK are suffering even more severely from the economic downturn than their London competitors. Several major regional firms are imposing... more

• CMS Cameron McKenna cuts 73 jobs

  Jun 26 2009 CMS Cameron McKenna has completed its redundancy talks, laying off 73 London staff, reports legalweek.com. more

• Top US law firms avoid deferrals

  Jun 18 2009 Most of the top US law firms are currently not deferring associates despite the financial crisis. According to the AmLaw Daily, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen and Katz;... more

• 10,000 UK lawyers face losing their jobs

  Jun 15 2009 About 10,000 lawyers --- more than one in ten of the 83,000 privately employed solicitors in the UK --- could lose their jobs, writes The Times, citing recruiters,... more

• Cravath pays incoming associates $80,000 to delay start

  Jun 15 2009 The venerable New York law firm Cravath, Swaine & Moore has joined other leading firms trying to trim down their labor force. Cravath, one of the most profitable US... more

• UK law firm Wragge to cut 85 more jobs

  Jun 11 2009 Wragge & Co has launched a new redundancy consultation after its turnover fell by 17 per cent in the last financial year. more

• Herbert Smith sees profits plunge by 22 per cent

  Jun 10 2009 Partner profits at London-based law firm Herbert Smith fell below £1 million in 2008 as the financial crisis caught up with the City law firms. Profits fell by 22... more

• Chicago law firm McDermott Will & Emery lays off 72 more

  Jun 05 2009 McDermott Will & Emery is laying off 72 more employees, 25 lawyers and 47 administrative staff. The news comes after a reduction of 149 jobs in February, which... more

• Weil Gotshal cuts staff despite strong results

  Jun 02 2009 Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP, which has about 43 lawyers in Boston and 1,215 lawyers firm-wide, has laid off 79 non-legal staff across all of its U.S. offices. The... more

• Mayer Brown associates take pay cuts to work in-house

  Jun 02 2009 Mayer Brown is paying some of its associates to work in-house at corporate clients. But there is a catch: The associates’ pay is reduced to $60,000 plus benefits, from... more

• Drinker Biddle cuts starting pay

  May 14 2009 Philadelphia-based Drinker Biddle & Reath will cut starting salaries for its 37 first-year associates joining in September to $105,000 from $145,000 during the minimum... more

• California law firm McDonough lays off 17

  May 13 2009 McDonough Holland & Allen PC, Sacramento’s second-largest law firm, has laid off four attorneys and 13 staff to cut costs as revenue continues to decline. more

• Worst year for US partner profits since 1991

  May 08 2009 2008 was the worst financial year for the US law firms since 1991. Partner profits and lawyer productivity at America's top 100 law firms was falling for the first... more

• Will New York law firms cut associate salaries?

  May 08 2009 In 2007, New York City firms were raising starting salaries to match the $160,000 mark set by Simpson Thacher & Bartlett. As earnings are under pressure due to the... more

• Stroock pays incoming associates $75,000 if they agree not to join the firm

  May 07 2009 US law firm Stroock & Stroock & Lavan announced plans to push back start dates for new associates and offer optional year-long delays with stipends for public sector... more

• UK firm Berwin Leighton Paisner launches redundancy consultation

  May 06 2009 Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) is reviewing 30 legal, 30 business services and 25 secretarial positions in London, reports legalweek. more

• CMS Cameron McKenna to cut 80 City jobs

  May 06 2009 CMS Cameron McKenna has announced that up to 20 fee earners and 60 non fee earner positions in London are likely to go as a part of a redundancy consultation. more

• Crisis Prompts UCLA to Reopen LL.M. Applications, Create New Program

  Apr 20 2009 The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Law has announced it will reopen the application process for the 2009-2010 academic year to accept 20... more

• What recession? UK lawyers charge $1400 an hour

  Apr 03 2009 UK regulatory lawyers at firms like London-based Simmons & Simmons bill as much as 1,000 pounds ($1,440) an hour for advising clients on the financial crisis and... more

• DLA Piper cuts partner pay by 11.5 per cent

  Mar 25 2009 DLA Piper, the largest US law firm with 3,785 lawyers, is cutting compensation for its US partners by 11.5 per cent. High performers will be paid more. The firm... more

• 300-lawyer Philadelphia firm Wolf Block to dissolve

  Mar 25 2009 In an emotional meeting, partners at Wolf Block yesterday voted to dissolve the 106-year-old Philadelphia law firm. The decision was the result of a decline of the... more

• Simmons & Simmons offers deferring trainees £15k to do an MBA

  Mar 15 2009 Simmons & Simmons has asked its September 2009 trainees to defer for one year and offered to pay all fees plus £15,000 if they take an MBA at BPP's Business School,... more

• US law firms cut 4,200 jobs in February

  Mar 12 2009 Since February 2008, about 21,000 jobs have been lost in the US legal service sector, according to data published by the US Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor... more

• Cravath incoming first-years asked to delay start dates

  Mar 11 2009 Wall Street law firm Cravath Swaine Moore is asking their incoming first-years to delay start dates for a few months, follwong other firms like Latham & Watkins, White... more

• Akin Gump lays off 47 associates, 57 staff

  Mar 09 2009 Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld laid off 47 associates and 57 paralegals and staff on Friday, reports the Legal Times, quoting "a source within the firm". more

• Pillsbury cuts 55 lawyers and 100 staff

  Mar 06 2009 New York-based Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman laid off 55 lawyers and 100 other staff members across all offices. The firm will give laid-off lawyers three months'... more

• Dewey & LeBoeuf, O’Melveny, Shearman cut 400 more jobs

  Mar 04 2009 Dewey & LeBoeuf and O’Melveny & Myers announced that they will lay off about 330 lawyers and staff blaming weak demand for legal work because of the economic crisis.... more

• Orrick lays off 100 associates, 200 staff

  Mar 04 2009 Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP has announced that it is laying off 100 lawyers and 200 staff members. The firm, which has more than 1,100 lawyers in 21 offices... more

• DLA Piper doubles number of equity partners in restructuring move

  Mar 03 2009 In a restructuring move, DLA Piper invited 275 nonequity partners to make capital contributions of as much as $150,000. The ABA Journal reports, that nearly all of... more

• What message does massive Latham layoff send?

  Mar 03 2009 Latham & Watkins' decision to lay off 190 associates as well as 250 staffers with a six-month severance package will cost the US firm $15 million to $19 million. more

• Small law firms cut back attorneys and salaries

  Mar 03 2009 Smaller law firms that see themselves as alternatives to bigger, more bottom-line-focused rivals are resorting to the same cost-cutting tactics of megafirms to weather... more

• Law students are adapting to a changing job market

  Mar 03 2009 Law School Angst: Layoffs, lost clients, fewer billable hours. It's a new world for grads, but jobs still exist. more

• Budget crunch prompts Oregon courthouses to close Fridays

  Mar 03 2009 Oregon's courthouses will close Fridays starting March 13 to save an estimated $3.1 million by slashing the pay of 1,800 state workers by 20 percent. more

• McDermott partner: Coffee cutback sends 'message of desperation'

  Mar 02 2009 Following layoffs announced at McDermott Will & Emery in February, the firm decided to reduce its coffee service in its Chicago headquarters office in another effort... more

• Latham & Watkins cuts 190 associates, 250 staff

  Feb 27 2009 Latham Watkins has cut 440 employees. 190 associates - 12 per cent of the firm's total associate headcount - and 250 staff will be layed off. The cuts represent the... more

• Law firms grow in China as thousands are laid off in the US, UK

  Feb 24 2009 Proskauer Rose, and Slaughter and May are among the firms that are opening new offices in China, adding to the almost 30 foreign firms in China since September 2006, a... more

• Simmons & Simmons to cut 70 jobs in London

  Feb 17 2009 City law firm Simmons & Simmons revealed that almost 70 could lose their jobs in its London office. The firm started a 30-day redundancy consultation today. Up to... more

• Holland & Knight lays off 70 lawyers and 173 staff

  Feb 13 2009 According to the WSJ Law Blog, Holland & Knight has fired 70 lawyers and 173 staff. “Today, we began restructuring our operations to better meet the needs of our... more

• US associate laid off twice in less than four months

  Feb 13 2009 After graduation from Berkeley’s Boalt Hall, Inna Efimchik was a corporate associate at Heller Ehrman. She had to leave the firm, when it collapsed in 2008. She and... more

• Law firms still hire attorneys in some practice areas

  Feb 13 2009 Law firms are still looking for attorneys in certain specialist areas, such as bankruptcy and foreclosures, litigation, corporate securities and patent prosecution. more

• US law firms laying off 1,000 in one day

  Feb 13 2009 It’s one of the legal world’s darkest days ever: American law firms eliminated some 1,000 jobs on Thursday. Several US firms - including DLA Piper, Goodwin Procter,... more

• Freshfields freezes associate pay to prepare for tough times ahead

  Feb 09 2009 Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has announced a salary freeze as it prepares for a drop in fee income in 2009. Associates and support staff remain at current pay... more

• Wilson Sonsini cuts 113 jobs, freezes associate salaries

  Feb 09 2009 Palo Alto-based Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, one of of the largest law firms in Silicon Valley, has announced it is laying off 45 lawyers and 68 staff members.... more

• McDermott lays off 150 in the US, including 60 attorneys

  Feb 05 2009 McDermott Will & Emery has laid off 60 associates and 89 support staff in the US due to the economic downturn. Chairman Harvey Freishtat said the firm performed... more

• Clifford Chance to cut partners in latest law firm shake-up

  Feb 04 2009 Clifford Chance LLP, the world’s largest law firm by revenue, plans to reduce the size of its partnership as the effects of the financial crisis hit the City’s "Magic... more

• Olswang to lay off 42 in the UK

  Jan 30 2009 Olswang, 682-strong UK law firm, has started a redundancy consultation. The firm told staff that up to 42 jobs in the UK will be affected by the cuts, including salary... more

• Linklaters to cut 120 associates, 150 staff in London

  Jan 29 2009 Linklaters today announced plans to cut up to 120 junior lawyers in its London office in anticipation of a weakening demand for commercial legal services. The... more

• Morrison & Foerster cuts 53 lawyers and 148 staff

  Jan 29 2009 San Francisco giant Morrison & Foerster announced it will cut 53 lawyers and 148 staff, adding to the mounting toll of out-of-work legal professionals. more

• Bankruptcy lawyers ask up to $18.50 per minute

  Jan 28 2009 Bankruptcy lawyers at Kirkland & Ellis LLP are asking as much as $18.50 a minute for bankruptcy work while creditors are recovering less of their loans through company... more

• Cadwalader loses insurance partner and lays off nine more associates

  Jan 26 2009 Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft is set to law off nine associates in the US. According to reports, six associates will have to leave the firm's New York office and three... more

• Simmons & Simmons trainees asked to defer start date to 2010

  Jan 26 2009 Simmons & Simmons has asked 17 trainees who were scheduled to begin work in March 2009 to consider deferring until 2010 due to the current economic downturn. more

• Ashurst cuts 10 equity partners

  Jan 21 2009 Ashurst is slashing ten lawyers from equity partnership. The Lawyer reports that seven London equity partners and three overseas equity partners have lost their jobs. more

• Addleshaw Goddard axes 19 partners

  Jan 21 2009 Addleshaw Goddard, the national UK law firm, is set to slash one in ten partners because of the downturn in demand for legal services. The leading City firm has... more

• Allen & Overy to make 10 redundancies in Hong Kong

  Jan 16 2009 Allen & Overy (A&O) is in redundancy consultations with up to 10 lawyers in its Hong Kong office, after seven of its partners there quit to join Latham & Watkins last... more

• Foley Hoag announces layoffs

  Jan 16 2009 Foley Hoag has cut about 6 percent of its workforce in response to the slumping economy, the law firm confirmed yesterday. The layoffs affect about 32 people, both... more

• Cadwalader revenue dips 14%, profits down 30%

  Jan 13 2009 Average profits per equity partner at Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft fell to $1.88 million for 2008, down from $2.725 million the year before, the Am Law Daily reports.... more

• Clifford Chance asks partners for $92 million

  Jan 12 2009 Clifford Chance, the world’s largest law firm by revenue, asked 400 equity partners to contribute a total of $92 million to raise cash. Clifford Chance, which... more

• Crisis hits partners in City law firms

  Jan 07 2009 Up to 10 to 15 per cent of the 11,726 partners in the top 100 UK firms could lose their jobs this year. Senior equity partners, who earned an average of £1.1 million... more

• City law firms gear up for painful year ahead

  Jan 03 2009 After enjoying several record-breaking years, City law firms like Clifford Chance, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Lovells, DLA Piper face a fall in revenue and... more

• Lawyers expect bigger bonuses despite credit crunch

  Dec 28 2008 Most lawyers expect to get a bonus this year and think that it will be bigger than last year's. Of almost 900 lawyers who took part in a poll by by recruiters GRS, 64%... more

• Latham & Watkins freezes associate salaries for 2009

  Dec 17 2008 Latham & Watkins is the first major law firm to freeze associate pay levels for 2009. While a number of US firms have announced that they are to reduce bonuses, Latham... more

• Akin Gump rescinds job offers to 2Ls

  Dec 15 2008 Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld is among the law firms rescinding summer associate offers or making them less appealing. Associates positions in Los Angeles and New... more

• Thacher Proffitt in talks with King & Spalding to avoid dissolution

  Dec 12 2008 The Legal Times reports that Atlanta-based King & Spalding is in talks to acquire most, but not all of Thacher Proffitt & Wood's lawyers. In order to avoid... more

• Chrysler hires law firm Jones Day as bankruptcy counsel

  Dec 08 2008 Chrysler hired the prominent bankruptcy firm Jones Day several weeks ago to provide counsel for a possible Chapter 11 filing, according to several people familiar with... more

• Reed Smith to cut 130 jobs, including 11 associate jobs in London

  Dec 04 2008 Reed Smith LLP said it has cut 115 support positions across its offices in the United States due to the economic slowdown. Additionally, the firm is beginning... more

• Few US law firms expect layoffs, says survey

  Dec 02 2008 A survey of more than 100 law firm leaders by American Lawyer indicates that attorneys at big law firms don't need to worry too much about joining the ranks of the... more

• Cadwalader ditches all London trainees

  Nov 30 2008 The London office of US firm Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft has confirmed that it won't be keeping on a single one of its March 2009 qualifiers. more

• Dechert set for redundancy consultation

  Nov 28 2008 Dechert has become the latest firm moving to cut jobs, with the US firm reviewing the positions of a number of administrative staff in its London office. more

• Simpson Thacher cuts associate bonuses

  Nov 26 2008 Simpson Thacher & Bartlett has announced that it is to halve its year-end associate bonuses. The bonuses range from $17,500 for first-year associates to $32,500 for... more

• Cravath, Swaine & Moore cuts bonuses

  Nov 22 2008 Cravath, Swaine & Moore announced reduced end-of-year associate bonuses last week in a memo to its staff. The numbers are down sharply from last year. The bonuses... more

• Cadwalader denies profits collapse claim

  Nov 21 2008 Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft partners have denied claims that the law firm’s partner profits are set to fall dramatically, as the New York law firm moves to overhaul... more

• Squire Sanders announces 30 US job cuts

  Nov 21 2008 Squire Sanders & Dempsey has become the latest US firm to shed staff, announcing a total of 30 associate and support staff layoffs today. more

• Mayer Brown lays off 33 lawyers

  Nov 21 2008 Mayer Brown laid off 33 lawyers Thursday because of the poor economic climate. The firm stated: "Despite the current conditions in the worldwide financial markets,... more

• Skadden ditches special bonus

  Nov 20 2008 Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom has abandoned special bonuses for associates due to the economic downturn. Skadden executive partner Bob Sheehan sent a firm-wide... more

• DLA Piper to ask partners to contribute capital to firm

  Nov 20 2008 DLA Piper, the nation's largest law firm by attorney head count, plans to ask U.S. income partners to contribute capital to the firm for the first time starting next... more

• White & Case lays off 70 associates

  Nov 12 2008 White & Case said yesterday that it will lay off about 3 percent of its global legal and staff head count. A spokesman said White & Case LLP is currently reviewing its... more

• City law firms cut costs as financial crisis bites

  Nov 06 2008 Top City lawyers may be reaping over £1 million a year but law firms are starting to make penny-pinching savings as they feel the impact of the financial crisis. A... more

• Dewey & LeBoeuf puts monthly partner drawings on hold

  Nov 03 2008 Dewey & LeBoeuf has ­suspended monthly partner distributions due to the economic situation, with partners last receiving a payment in August. more

• Eversheds suspends payments to equity partners

  Nov 02 2008 Top partners at Eversheds, the UK’s eighth biggest law firm by turnover, have been told that they will not receive their regular share of the firm’s profits for the... more

• Clifford Chance and Latham line up for £7bn Barclays financing

  Nov 01 2008 Clifford Chance is leading a quartet of legal advisers to secure principal roles on the £7bn cash injection into Barclays from the Middle East. Latham & Watkins... more

• Doom and gloom ahead for U.S. law firms

  Oct 24 2008 U.S. consulting firm Hildebrandt predicts that profits per partner for 2008 will be flat or drop by 10%. Some law firms with significant capital markets practices will... more

• UK law firms still keen on Australasian lawyers

  Oct 22 2008 In the midst of the global credit crunch, the UK continues to lure Australasian lawyers with the prospect of high quality work, good salaries and the life experience... more

• Dewey & LeBoeuf to close North Carolina office

  Oct 21 2008 Dewey & LeBoeuf has announced that it will close its Charlotte, N.C., office by the end of this year, citing the consolidation of the banking sector and slowdown in... more

• Recruiter: Summer associate positions could decline by up to 35% in 2009

  Oct 20 2008 Students who would have focused on New York summer positions in better economic times are now looking in other cities and at smaller law firms... more

• Law Firms Gear Up for Bailout-Bill Work

  Oct 15 2008 The meltdown has been good for some elite firms with New York roots and longstanding banking ties, such as Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, which has represented Lehman... more

• Simpson Thacher wins Treasury role on US bailout

  Oct 14 2008 The US Treasury Department has chosen Simpson Thacher & Bartlett as its lead legal adviser on the $700bn bailout plan from among a group of six law firms. more

• Eversheds to cut costs with travel restrictions

  Oct 09 2008 Eversheds has brought in travel restrictions in a bid to reduce outgoings across the law firm... more

• Denton, Freshfields, Slaughters line up for Icelandic bank roles

  Oct 08 2008 Denton Wilde Sapte, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Slaughter and May have snared key roles as the UK arms of two Icelandic banks at the heart of the country’s... more

• Wall Street woes could spark litigation increase

  Oct 01 2008 The recent financial fallout among the major banks could spur increases in litigation. Private sector buys bad debts. Some law firms have seen an increase in... more

• Finance fiasco slows business at US law firms

  Sep 29 2008 A recent Citibank survey of the nation's top 160 law firms found the number of hours billed by lawyers to their clients for the first half of the year was down as much... more

• Real estate M&A crisis: Just 42 transactions in Europe in 2008

  Sep 25 2008 Figures produced by Mergermarket show the extent of the downturn in real estate M&A over the last year, with Europe seeing only 42 real estate transactions, and UK... more

• Corporate law firms see dark days ahead

  Sep 18 2008 The bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers and the announced acquisition of Merrill Lynch & Co. by Bank of America will produce a flurry of legal activity. But for most large... more