Law Firm Meltdown -- Partner Firings

Click on the title to this post to read an entry from the ABA Journal online about U.S. and U.K. partner firings on an upswing as the economy heads downward. The article quotes consultants speculating that the cuts are to bring the partner/associate ratio back into line after slashing the population of associates, or that the move shows that firms are estimating that the recession will last into late 2010. Severance costs can equal a year's salary for equity partners, so cutting one loose costs the firm a year's salary anyway. Ergo, the firm must figure it needs to save more than a year's salary....


For more dark humor, read the snarky comments back and forth below the original story. My favorite is the bitter observation that law firms began to die when they expected loyalty to flow UPwards but did not see any reason for it to flow DOWNwards. And now, the commentator observes, the firms see no reason to have loyalty flow laterally.