Goodwin Procter Layoffs Forum

[Desert Fox]

how often does this happen? a big firm has one super giant matter and when it settles they drop weight?

Weil dropped everyone on a big BK once it was confirmed. Happens but not often.

Icecold.

[Anonymous User]

My V50 pwn'd a small group who finished a major case. But they waited 6 months to see if the partners could find new work. They couldn't and they got pwnd.

[TheOnePercent]

Not a great 24 months for Boston firms/offices.

Bingham acquisition/purge in the fall; Weil's little litigation outpost getting hosed; now Goodwin. More distance between Ropes, WH, the Skadden satellite and everyone else, no?

[Big Shrimpin]

I blame the boomers.

[Desert Fox]

I blame the boomers.

PPP only went up 7%. Better lay off 1/10th of litigation!

[Big Shrimpin]

I blame the boomers.

PPP only went up 7%. Better lay off 1/10th of litigation!

Precisely!

In my day, you had to bill 400 hrs/month to make ends meet.

I put in my time so I deserve it!

[Clearly]

I blame the boomers.

PPP only went up 7%. Better lay off 1/10th of litigation!

20% of lit actually.

[Old Gregg]

litigation is an oversubscribed and saturated practice, especially since the financial crisis since law students thought the dried up corporate market meant that they had the best shot of getting into a firm by becoming a litigator. problem is also that most exits involve steep paycuts, and it's hard to accept that when you're getting fat paychecks.

probably not the end of such layoffs. there just isnt enough litigation work out there to keep so many people busy. i give applause to goodwin, though, for offering lit associates the ability to switch to corp. that's a life raft that ive never seen a firm give and a career move that few lateral firms would allow.

[Desert Fox]

litigation is an oversubscribed and saturated practice, especially since the financial crisis since law students thought the dried up corporate market meant that they had the best shot of getting into a firm by becoming a litigator. problem is also that most exits involve steep paycuts, and it's hard to accept that when you're getting fat paychecks.

probably not the end of such layoffs. there just isnt enough litigation work out there to keep so many people busy. i give applause to goodwin, though, for offering lit associates the ability to switch to corp. that's a life raft that ive never seen a firm give and a career move that few lateral firms would allow.

If they were serious about the corp life raft they would have offered the transfer before shitcanning them.

[Old Gregg]

litigation is an oversubscribed and saturated practice, especially since the financial crisis since law students thought the dried up corporate market meant that they had the best shot of getting into a firm by becoming a litigator. problem is also that most exits involve steep paycuts, and it's hard to accept that when you're getting fat paychecks.

probably not the end of such layoffs. there just isnt enough litigation work out there to keep so many people busy. i give applause to goodwin, though, for offering lit associates the ability to switch to corp. that's a life raft that ive never seen a firm give and a career move that few lateral firms would allow.

If they were serious about the corp life raft they would have offered the transfer before shitcanning them.

do u mean to imply they arent serious about it? im not sure it's the case that they arent...

[Desert Fox]

litigation is an oversubscribed and saturated practice, especially since the financial crisis since law students thought the dried up corporate market meant that they had the best shot of getting into a firm by becoming a litigator. problem is also that most exits involve steep paycuts, and it's hard to accept that when you're getting fat paychecks.

probably not the end of such layoffs. there just isnt enough litigation work out there to keep so many people busy. i give applause to goodwin, though, for offering lit associates the ability to switch to corp. that's a life raft that ive never seen a firm give and a career move that few lateral firms would allow.

If they were serious about the corp life raft they would have offered the transfer before shitcanning them.

do u mean to imply they arent serious about it? im not sure it's the case that they arent...

I have no idea but why would you lay someone off then tell them maybe you have something else for them. Wouldn't you do that first. Maybe I'm overthinking it.

[Old Gregg]

I have no idea but why would you lay someone off then tell them maybe you have something else for them. Wouldn't you do that first. Maybe I'm overthinking it.

probably because if u told one and not the other (after all, ur not going to offer all laid off litigation associates this opportunity, just the more junior ones), word would spread that layoffs are occurring before they've actually occurred. i really think there's no way this couldve been handled without there being an even larger PR mess.

[Johann]

Yeah you wouldn't fire someone to rehire them. This cost them some pretty bad press. That's just their response so they don't look shitty.

[mmelittlechicken]

They should just offer optional severance packages to the entire group, like with secretary downsizing, and plenty of associates would willingly leave without a mess.

[szb5058]

are most (all?) of these layoffs taking place in their boston office?

[Big Shrimpin]

are most (all?) of these layoffs taking place in their boston office?

what practice group (or industry or whatev) is it?

edit: nvm...from xoxo:

most of the associates who were let go were general business lit or securities lit types. the firm used to have a bunch of bank of america/countrywide mortgage fraud and securities litigation work based on that and most of that dried up last summer, i think. because that work kept so many associates fed, litigation as a whole was down.

[Big Shrimpin]

Yeah you wouldn't fire someone to rehire them. This cost them some pretty bad press. That's just their response so they don't look shitty.

*Fired Shitigator sits down for GP corp interview per severance letter*

Interviewer: "So, why do you want to work at Goodwin Procter?"

Fired Shitigator: "..."

(Credit: xoxo)