Biglaw

Without Layoffs Or Salary Cuts, Some Biglaw Firms May Not Survive COVID-19

At-risk firms are running out of time, and more than a handful could close their doors as a result.

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I don’t see how all 81 of the low-margin, no-comp-cut, firms can survive. Let’s say either the data are wrong, or the revenue outlook is stronger, for a half of these firms. That would mean 40 firms come under partner departure pressure. If departures take hold at, say, just a third of these firms then, in round numbers, ten to fifteen firms will go under.

— Hugh A. Simons, formerly a senior partner and executive committee member at The Boston Consulting Group and chief operating officer and policy committee member at Ropes & Gray, arguing that more Biglaw firms need to cut salaries or conduct layoffs, because, as he notes in his well-reasoned essay, “Absent significant movement, and soon, this will not end well.”

Staci ZaretskyStaci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

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