A statistics on US and UK Attorney's Lay off

Recession, Recession, Recession……..is perhaps one of the most “googled” words these days, with everyone searching desperately for its meaning. Even those who don’t know exactly what recession means speak about it.

It all started with the economic slowdown which we first witnessed with Lehman Brothers’ bankruptcy and the sale of Bear Stearns and Merrill Lynch. The dominoes continued to fall, and dire predictions on the world economy started circulating. As one of the fast developing Legal Process Outsourcing Company in India and with our offshore unit in Hyderabad, we wanted to take a quick look into the US legal service industry, and analyze it for a market prophecy on LPO’s future.

Companies started slashing their workforce and budget which will also cut legal services; there will be lesser client demand for legal services all around throughout the recession period. Companies’ pressure to cut executive compensation will in turn impact law firm compensation. One of the founders of the world’s sixth largest law firms said that “While there will be countervailing factors such as the growth of hedge funds, restructuring, litigation and bankruptcy, the net effect of the above is likely to be the greatest year-to-year decline in law firm revenues that anyone practicing today has experienced in their lifetime” and "Whatever the most extreme forecast you've seen about the decline from 2008 to 2009, you should double it." (Source Paul Lippe, in a column for the American Lawyer)

US Law firm consultants report their most unpleasant forecasts yet, with a predicted drop of more than 15% profit in 2008 and predict that 2009 is going to be a tough year as well. More particularly many East coast law firms are expected to dissolve. Clifford Chance sacked 20 attorneys from their New York and D.C office in October and it has planned to axe 80 associates from London office this month.

The first week of January saw reports of lawyers being cut from the attorney rosters of Baker & McKenzie; Kirkland & Ellis; Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein; and Wildman Harold Allen & Dixon. Mid January, Boston Foley Hoag laid off 32 Associates and Staff which amounts to 6% of their total workforce strength. The following day a well known Philly based law firm confirmed layoffs for purely economic reason though the number was not specific. Significant numbers of Skadden Staff attorneys were given pink slips earlier this month which includes 65 staff members. To the ever increasing list of layoff count, a silicon valley based Cooley Godward Kronish serving high-tech corporate and litigation firm sent an internal memo sacking 52 attorneys and 62 staff members. The latest cuts come from the 650 lawyer firm of Wilson Sonsini in Silicon Valley, which lays off 45 lawyers and 68 staff members, and is also freezing the associates pay. Morrison & Foerster lay’s off 53 Lawyers and 148 staff members. (Source ABA bar journal)

Will all these layoffs lead to outsourcing the legal support service work to India? Clifford Chance, which first came in news to sack its associates, is planning to partner up with an Indian company. And many other leading law firms partnered with Indian firms particularly in the month of January 2009, indicating a tremendous growth for LPO’s in the coming days. While the economic downturn is bad news for most, the LPO industry stands to profit, and industry leaders look forward to tremendous growth, even in the face of a deepening global recession. We can rightly call the recession inversely proportional to the development of Legal process outsourcing companies in India.

There are proposals from top law firms to LexpertLinx, particularly in the areas of e-discovery, document management services and Intellectual property rights which includes patent and trademark search & filing. In the month of March and April, LexpertLinx has planned to ramp up the resources count to a considerable number wherein Engineers, Scientist and fresh Law graduates will get an opportunity to harness their skill set with us.

About LexpertLinx LexpertLinx is a phenomenal architect in the LPO industry that provides legal solutions to Fortune 500 companies, global, mid-sized and small law firms, public and private corporate legal departments, e-discovery vendors, court reporting companies and solo attorneys by linking global legal expertise.

By combining our unparalleled experience and comprehensive capability with expertise in the niche areas of IPR, document management, contract drafting & review, and litigation support services, which includes legal research, motion and brief writing, deposition summaries, e-discovery, immigration, real estate, personal injury matters and legal transcription and we help our clients balance their costs, therefore becoming more competitive and efficient.