Oakland public-law firm Meyers Nave has joined a growing list of firms that have cut their ranks and frozen salaries.
On Dec. 19, the roughly 85-lawyer firm laid off two midlevel associates and four staffers, Chief Operating Officer Don Oppenheim confirmed today. The firm also froze salaries for everyone, including partners and executives.
The freeze is a precautionary measure to help the firm get through the first half of 2009, Oppenheim said. Full year-end bonuses are being paid to associates now, he said. The firm pays hours bonuses starting at 1900 hours, rising every 50 hours thereafter, but Oppenheim wouldn’t go into further detail.
Oppenheim said the firm finds itself in a ‘strange reality,’ where on the one hand, it has to cut people in faltering practice areas, and on the other, to hire for areas where the firm doesn’t have enough attorneys to handle the load. Real estate redevelopment and public agency — practices that are heavily dependent on deals — are slow, he said, while litigation “is booming.” Oppenheim said he expects the firm will need to add a partner in water law and a senior associate or of counsel in labor and employment litigation early next year.
“Our firm is responding to the market,” he said. “The market is telling us to be super-specialized.”
- Previously on Legal Pad: Orrick Freezes Associate Salaries
- Previously on CalLaw: Latham's Salary Freeze May Launch Trend
— Petra Pasternak
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