Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Page 3
Mayer Brown LLP Lays Off 28 Associates, Counsel
By a MetNews Staff Writer
Mayer Brown LLP has decided to lay off 28 associates and counsel nationwide, as well as 47 staff.
A spokesperson for the firm yesterday declined to say whether any of the cuts announced last Thursday in an internal e-mail would affect the firm’s downtown Los Angeles office.
The layoffs would represent about 3 percent of the firm’s 925 lawyers, located in seven offices around the country.
Firm Chairman Bert Krueger told employees in the e-mail that the cut was necessary to “align firm-wide personnel levels with current and anticipated demand for legal services.”
He blamed a diminished overall demand for legal services, as well as a “significantly lower” than normal rate in voluntary departures, but he insisted that the year was “off to a positive start,” and that most of the firm’s practices were “performing well.”
Krueger said the layoffs would enable the firm “to maintain our financial strength and continue investing in our practices, our global platform and the professional development of our people—and thereby enhance our ability to provide clients with the high standard of legal work and service that defines Mayer Brown.”
He also said affected personnel would receive “salary and benefits continuation packages, outplacement counseling and other assistance to help them through this difficult time.”
This is the firm’s third round of job cuts in 18 months, according to various legal blogs. The firm reportedly released 33 associates and counsel in November 2008, and laid off 45 more lawyers last April.
Founded in 1881, Mayer Brown maintains a total of 22 offices across the globe. In 2008, The National Law Journal ranked it as the ninth-largest law firm in the U.S., with over 1,800 attorneys.
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