Latham & Watkins, the nations 2nd highest grossing law firm (2nd to Skadden Arps) booted 440 employees! A total of 190 lawyers and 250 supporting staff were dropped in what Chairman Robert Dell calls a "one shot deal". That's not good news. Especially considering Latham grossed $2 Billion in 2007.
Does this mean they didn't maintain enough padding for this hard of a hit? Or do their shareholders just love lacing their pockets as much as possible? After all, firms do have 2 options: retain earnings, or pay out shareholder salaries and bonuses. So if earnings fall, all else equal, associate salaries gotta go.
Boy am I glad my undergrad was in paper clip manufacturing. Then again, if law firms are slowing down that means less senseless paper work. Less senseless paper work means less legal secretaries. As secretaries decrease, office supply theft will decrease. Which equates to greater inventories of paper clips. Which means demand for paper clips will decline significantly. Now that really sucks.
reference: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123575323300395661.html#mod=testMod
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