Legal Pad

No Layoffs for S.F. Court Staff

[Kate Moser]

There won’t be layoffs at San Francisco Superior Court –- at least for now.

The court had readied 122 layoff notices and was prepared to start sending them out yesterday, depending on the governor’s revised budget that was unveiled Friday.

“We’re abandoning, for now, a plan to take a cut in staff,” Presiding Judge James McBride said this morning. “We can’t keep our operation going at the level it does if we cut staff.”

Asked how the court will make it without layoffs, McBride said a "voluntary separation program" that some employees are signing up for is “an important part of our future,” and that there are “other strategies we’re going to look at to tighten our belts and make it.”

Once the budget is passed, he noted, “then we’ll be able to know predictably how many nights a week we’ll have to eat beans and toast.”

Laid Off MoFo Staffer Levels Charge At Associate

[Amanda Royal]

A former Morrison & Foerster secretary claims in a wrongful termination suit filed last month that an associate at the firm had once threatened to bring an Uzi to work and kill people if an important fax wasn't located.

Aileen Martinez, the former secretary, leveled the accusation against associate Mimi Yang in a suit filed in San Francisco Superior Court.

Yang, who is still at MoFo, declined to comment and referred inquiries to her legal counsel, Michael Hallerud at Nixon Peabody. Hallerud declined to comment.

Martinez, who'd been at MoFo 28 years, lost her job in the firm's January 2009 layoffs. The suit says that when the Uzi comment was made, in 2008, she complained to superiors, filed a police report, and took a three-month disability leave.

Her complaint says she was at One Market Plaza in 1982 when Ricardo Contawe shot 11 people at an insurance office on another floor. Martinez alleges she suffered post-traumatic stress disorder from the incident that remained latent until Yang’s Uzi comment. She was afraid to go to work for several months, and afraid of Yang from then on, the complaint says.

Mary Shea Hagebol at Shea Law Offices in Oakland is representing Martinez. She did not respond to requests for comment.

Layoffs 2010: Wilson Sonsini Cuts 20 Staffers

Wilson Sonsini laid off 20 staff nationwide on Wednesday, most of them secretaries, a firm spokeswoman confirmed in an email.

“[T]echnology has become more advanced and has streamlined the way we all work. While there are many benefits to this, it also presents some challenges to our historic staffing models,” said a memo to employees first posted on Above the Law.

Wilson has not yet reported its 2009 financial results.

The memo assured employees that the firm sees “positive signs” in the economy.

“Although this was a difficult decision, we would like to assure everyone that the firm continues to be extremely well positioned for growth and future success,” it said.

Wilson is only one of two AmLaw 100 firms to publicly conduct layoffs so far in 2010. Last week, Seyfarth Shaw cut 20 staff and 20 attorneys.

Last January, Wilson laid off 45 attorneys and 68 staff.

— Amanda Royal
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Allen Matkins Cuts Pay, Lays Off Associates (Again)

We saw a post on Above the Law today that said Los Angeles’ Allen Matkins had made another cut to associate salaries. Oh, and some layoffs. ATL recaps the rough year the 200-something-lawyer firm has had, but was stonewalled by management when it called for confirmation/response/defense.

Mike Palmer, the firm’s executive director called us back late this afternoon and confirmed that Allen Matkins has cut the salaries of a number of associates at all levels in slow practice areas, primarily real estate and corporate. Some of them had already had their pay reduced in March, but Palmer said it was the first cut for most. He confirmed the reductions ran between 15 and 30 percent of pay and would be effective Nov. 1.

More, after the jump.

Cooley Lays Off 58 Staffers

For the second time this year, Cooley Godward Kronish is axing employees.

Fifty-eight staffers were cut today, although no attorneys were let go, according to an all-hands memo (.pdf) from Cooley COO Mark Pitchford.

“This reduction was conducted to eliminate pockets of staffing overcapacity throughout the firm,” wrote Pitchford.

The firm laid off 52 lawyers and 62 staff in January amidst the deluge of law firm layoffs.

Cooley has had a rough go of it lately, losing a string of partners, including some of its top M&A lawyers.

— Zusha Elinson

Stay Tuned: Details on San Mateo Layoffs Expected Tuesday

After working through the weekend to determine how to make up for an unexpected budget deficit, San Mateo County Superior Court officials plan to announce layoff details Tuesday –- a “significantly reduced” number from the originally announced 60, the court’s executive officer told us today.

“We feel badly that we need to lay off anybody in this environment,” Court Executive Officer John Fitton said.

Fitton added that he would sit down with the affected court employees individually tomorrow.

The unexpected $3.89 million deficit came after court administrators found that holding 35 positions vacant wouldn’t yield the projected savings they were counting on, according to Fitton. Revenues were $2 million less than they expected, too.

The Service Employees International Union Local 521 rallied at the Hall of Justice in Redwood City last week, calling for an outside auditor –- rather than the ongoing investigation by the Administrative Office of the Courts –- to look into accounting errors that caused the unexpected budget shortfall.

—  Kate Moser

Few Havens for Harried Partners (but have you tried Allen Matkins?)

Here’s something you don’t hear from law firm management much these days: “We are actively looking for lateral partners and groups.”

BETWEEN JOBS An occasional look at how laid-off legal professionals cope with a crisis economy.

Allen Matkins recruiting partner John Gamble says the recession is not dissuading his firm from hiring. If anything, it may be helping him find talent. Gamble says the firm has talked to plenty of partners who are “uncomfortable in their place,” concerned with the financial stability of their firm, unsure that their firm is still fully backing them, facing rate pressure or feeling like they’re wearing the “underperforming partner” tag.

Gamble said that most of the partners he’s interviewed this year have strong practices. But he’s also talked to those who feel “downward compensation pressure” from their firm because their practice isn’t as robust as it was.

A tough time to struggle, after the jump.

Quinn Culls "A Few" Staffers

When you pay your partners over $3 million a year, we guess it’s pretty hard to fess up that you’ve had to fire people.

But so far, Quinn Emanuel has fessed up, at least a couple of times. Most recently, this morning. Legal Pad emailed John Quinn to ask about rumors that the firm is quietly doing layoffs this week. His reply:

It is true that some staff have been laid off. Not lawyers

When asked how many staff, or what portion of the workforce, Quinn wrote:

It was a few secretaries, mostly for hourly contract lawyers — which we dont use as much as we have in the past.

Quinn likes its layoffs pretty quiet. We’ve heard some crazy stories about how they do it. One tipster a few months ago said people who were let go in 2008 had to sign something swearing them to secrecy for six months, at the end of which they’d receive their severance. We assumed the same technique might have been used in their first round of layoffs this year, but Quinn said then that was “absolutely false.”

— Amanda Royal

Manatt: 25 'Transitions' as Layoffs Continue

Manatt Phelps & Phillips said Monday that it had laid off 17 lawyers and 8 staff because of the economic slowdown. The L.A.-based firm listed 405 attorneys on its Web site on Monday, with about 75 percent working out of its five California offices.

The news first appeared on Above the Law. A firm statement said it provided those who were laid off with “financial and other assistance to help with their transitions.”

“The broad economic slowdown continues to present challenges to businesses in every industry. The quality and breadth our national practice, as well as initiatives to improve resource utilization and reduce expenses, have positioned us to meet these challenges. Responsible stewardship, however, requires ongoing evaluation and appropriate alignment of staffing levels with client needs,” the statement continued.

A storm of layoffs that swept the industry in February and early March seems to have subsided, but layoff news keeps occasionally trickling in. Manatt confirmed earlier this month that it had laid off nearly fifty people since October, ahead of Monday’s latest batch. Since it appears Manatt’s layoffs have not come in discreet waves, it’s arguable whether Monday’s announcement represents a second wave or just the continuation of a long tide.

— Amanda Royal

Gibson, Dunn Cuts 36 Staff Jobs Nationwide

Quick pointer to ATL, which reports that layoffs have come to Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. Gibson, which has a fantastically annoying and unintuitive website, is home to about a thousand lawyers and an uncounted (by anyone we know, at least) number of staff.  No attorney layoffs have been announced by the firm so far.

Above the law has a brief statement from Gibson and the usual array of cringe-worthy comments.  For the broad perspective, we point you toward LawShucks' layoff tracker.  Legal Pad extends best wishes to the staffers feeling the ax today.

— Brian McDonough