Large law firms around the country have been sporadically laying off associate attorneys and support staff for the last five months or so, but this past week was particularly brutal, with multiple firms laying off hundreds of attorneys and support staff. NYTimes Dealbook has the rundown with links to the numbers.
Large rounds of layoffs used to go unnoticed prior to the internet age making it so easy to anonymously share information. Now, within hours of an announced round of layoffs at a firm, blogs like Abovethelaw.com will have the news from an "anonymous tipster" and firms have learned that they might as well just confirm the layoffs through press release. This information sharing trend started around the turn of the century with the "Greedy Associates" forums where associate attorneys shared their salary and other information, allowing them to compare the benefits (and downsides) of practicing at different large law firms. Partners in these firms soon caught on and learned they would have to match their competition - causing several significant salary jumps in the last decade.
Now, the information sharing is working in reverse, allowing partners at big firms to keep tabs on what benefits are being removed at other firms, what number of associates are being laid off, which firms are instituting salary freezes or slashing bonuses, etc. And firms are using this information to shield their own cutbacks and layoffs from criticism - saying they are just moving with the market.
In Phoenix, the legal community seems small enough that you generally hear only anecdotal evidence about layoffs from lawyer friends rather than any hard confirmation. And you certainly don't hear announcements of layoffs like some of the big national firms make. The only time law firm layoffs seem to make it into the news in Phoenix is if a major national firm with an office in Phoenix announces nationwide layoffs. For instance, the Business Journal carried an article over the weekend about DLA Piper conducting layoffs nationwide, but wasn't able to confirm any layoffs in the massive international firm's rather small Phoenix office. The one exception was when Squire Sanders conducted a round of nationwide layoffs late last year and confirmed at least three associate cuts in their Phoenix office by press release.
For the most part, the Phoenix firms can fly under the radar, laying off two or three at a time in slow departments without making major waves in the media or on legal blogs. Associates who are laid off here don't have the safety of anonymity in numbers to be able to make tips to legal blogs for fear of being outted and hurting their chances at getting another job. Nevertheless, the lack of reporting on law firm layoffs in Phoenix doesn't mean it isn't happening, particularly in the larger real estate departments around the city that have slowed way down due to the real estate crash here. With commercial real estate turning worse every month, the news isn't expected to get much better for associates in Phoenix firms anytime soon. But we probably won't be hearing much about it.
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