JD Journal » secretaries

Addleshaw Lays Off 85 Staff

Erik Even — Mon, 18 May 2009 19:42:27 +0000

Addleshaw Goddard, one of Britain’s largest firms, which announced in February it would cut 19 partners, has now announced the redundancies of 85 staff positions.

The layoffs target the firm’s Manchester office, and affect the business services division, including business development, human resources, information technology, finance, and secretarial.

No lawyers are being let go at this time, but the firm is instituting a salary freeze, and cutting pay for trainees. Addleshaw is also considering cutting hours.

Addleshaw Goddard LLP is a UK law firm, with almost 750 lawyers and 1,350 staff, based in Leeds, London and Manchester. It was formed in 2003 by the merger of Addleshaw Booth & Co with Theodore Goddard.

According to The Lawyer, a UK legal newspaper, Addleshaw Goddard was ranked 15th largest law firm in the UK by turnover in 2006.

Stinson Morrison Hecker Lays Off 30 Staffers

Erik Even — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 00:36:59 +0000

Kansas City’s Stinson Morrison Hecker let 30 people go on Monday.

No attorneys were affected.

“We were going to do this over a period of time, but we decided that with the economy the way it is, there was no reason to prolong it,” said managing partner Mark Foster.

Foster said those laid off included secretaries, record clerks and people responsible for billing and collections. The layoffs were spread out among the firm’s offices in Kansas City, Overland Park, St. Louis, Wichita and Phoenix.

Stinson, which has no plans for further layoffs, is the fourth largest firm based in Kansas City with about 340 attorneys.

Update: Shearman Lays Off 78

Erik Even — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 17:41:07 +0000

Yesterday we reported on web rumors that New York’s Shearman & Sterling would lay off staffers.

Today the firm confirmed that 60 support staff positions have been eliminated.

In the US, approximately 60 secretaries and other administrative personnel from various groups, including Finance, GTS, HR, Marketing, and Office Services, will be leaving the firm today. In London, we are commencing a formal redundancy consultation process, as required by UK law, which will result in the loss of approximately 18 secretarial and administrative staff positions at the end of this process.

It is difficult to see friends and colleagues leave the firm, and we want to express our appreciation to the people who are leaving for all they have done for us individually and collectively. We are offering financial packages and outplacement services to those who are leaving to ease their transition, and we wish them the very best.

Shearman & Sterling LLP is a law firm headquartered in New York City, with 19 offices located in major financial centers around the world. It was founded in 1873.

As of 2006, it was the 17th largest law firm in the world as measured by 2006 annual revenue. Shearman & Sterling is a white shoe firm, the equivalent of the Magic Circle in the UK.

US Legal Market Lost 7000 Jobs in 2008

Erik Even — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 18:53:05 +0000

According to the Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, the legal services industry in the United States shed some 7,000 jobs between December 2007 and December 2008.

The numbers include lawyers, paralegals, public relations specialists, secretaries and other positions; and reflect layoffs by firms nationwide over the last few months, and the dissolutions of Am Law 100 firms Heller Ehrman, Thelen, and Thacher Proffitt & Wood.

In all, 2.6 million US jobs were lost in 2008, the biggest fall in more than six decades.

But the number of legal services jobs actually increased in December by 1,300.