Top Law Schools

Tons of tech/crypto companies seem to be conducting layoffs recently and we frequently see arguments here that legal depts are cost centers and would be first in line to be cut. Has this actually been the case for this round of recent layoffs hitting the tech/crypto companies?

Concerned about this as well. Recently accepted an offer to go in house at a tech company, turned down an exploding offer from a non-tech company, and already quit my biglaw job. News of layoffs/rescinding of offers at several tech companies is well documented on Blind, but there's little discussion about legal departments.

Anonymous User wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 30, 2022 4:56 pm

Concerned about this as well. Recently accepted an offer to go in house at a tech company, turned down an exploding offer from a non-tech company, and already quit my biglaw job. News of layoffs/rescinding of offers at several tech companies is well documented on Blind, but there's little discussion about legal departments.

Wonder if anyone knows how well legal departments did during previous downturns.

Law firms react to a reduction in business with stealth layoffs/reduced hiring and lowered bonuses to cut costs, but that's only possible because you can satisfy all remaining customer demands with fewer billers. I'm guessing companies that don't outright fail have so little slack in the legal team that it's very difficult to reduce headcount. I can imagine compensation increases being poor for the duration of a downturn, and perhaps if someone left they wouldn't backfill the role, but at least in my (small) in-house tech legal team, it's very hard to see how anyone could be let go without it causing a lot of problems. They basically only agree to hire new lawyers if the existing legal team has been underwater for months and it's obviously and appreciably impacting commercial operations.

I also imagine there a lot of legal concerns raised by the downturn, especially in the crypto space, so they may not want to start by firing lawyers.