Axe Falling for Clifford Chance Partners

Partners at Clifford Chance, which we now learn for the first time laid off 35 support staff in New York and Washington, DC in December, are voting this week on a temporary rule change that will make it easier for the firm to fire partners.

Should the plan receive the two-thirds majority vote required, an undisclosed number of salaried and equity partners will be asked to leave the firm.

Clifford announced the plan in early February, with the review being led by the firm’s 17-member management committee and the 13?member partnership council.

Also in February, the firm announced it is in talks with associates about voluntary redundancies.

The firm has also asked partners to contribute £60 million ($87 million), about £150,000 each, and is cutting as many as 80 lawyers in London and 26 in the US.

Clifford Chance LLP is the largest law firm in the world, both by number of lawyers and revenue, and a component of the UK’s “Magic Circle” of leading law firms. It is a prestigious international practice with its principal office at Torchwood Tower in London.