According to a report issued by the National Law Journal, the top 250 law firms cut 5,259 attorney positions this year in the worst year since the NLJ began compiling the statistics. The firm shedding the most jobs was Latham & Watkins which has 444 fewer lawyers than last year. The number of partners grew by one percent over all, while associates were cut at the rate of 8.7% and of counsel and staff lawyer positions shrunk by 8.9%.