Latham to cut 440 jobs as workloads plummet - 27 February 2009

Latham to cut 440 jobs as workloads plummet - 27 February 2009
This is a representative article at this point. Many law firms are now starting to make double digit reductions in staff across the board. This was in response to a 21% decline in profits per equity partner ("PEP") from about $2.3 million to $1.8 million. One wonders whether it is possible to get by these days PEP of $1.8 million. The costs of the six month severance packages is certainly not trivial. The cost of training those let go and the cost of rehiring replacements when times get better, as they most certainly will some day, hopefully sooner than later, when coupled with severance costs, would hardly seem to warrant this sort of reaction given the level of profits per equity partner.