Cadwalader makes 96 redundant; total 131 this year
Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft is making a second major round of redundancies, laying off 96 lawyers across its offices in the US and UK.
For the first time the US firm’s London office is affected, with 11 of the 96 based in Cadwalader’s City office (more). The cuts will inevitably raise a question about the long-term future of Cadwalader’s London presence.
Elsewhere, New York is understood to be the hardest hit office followed by Charlotte and Washington DC.
The cuts are all being made in Cadwalader’s capital markets and global finance groups. In a statement, Cadwalader blamed the continuing “very significant slowdown” in the real estate finance and securitisation markets, which began a year ago.
“With CMBS issuance down 82 per cent in 2008, it appears that the real estate finance and securitisation businesses will remain slow for the foreseeable future,” the firm added.
In January, Cadwalader laid off 35 lawyers across its US offices, with the firm then blaming “unexpected and persistent volatility” in sectors of the financial markets that had affected the capital markets (The Lawyer, 10 January).
For editorial comment on the Cadwalader redundancies, see The Lawyer in New York.
Readers' comments (6)
Anonymous | 30-Jul-2008 6:11 pm
Wow
That's one sixth of their lawyers. I wouldn't just be worried about the long term future of their London office.
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Anonymous | 31-Jul-2008 3:11 pm
Cadwalader
Cadwalader is a firm made up of very arrogant and successful guys. The firm had a 10:1 leverage on securitisations which were just flooding in. They really caught the wave on that trend. But things changed and I don't think they expected the market to die instead of dry up more gradually.
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Anon. | 31-Jul-2008 4:25 pm
Poor planning
A few redundancies as a result of the credit crunch are understandable, but great swathes of them like in this case suggest very poor planning on behalf of the firm.
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A. Torney | 1-Aug-2008 10:53 am
Not confidence inspiring
The fact that the firm is prepared to slash jobs to maintain profitability sends a message to clients that the firm is businesslike and not afraid to make difficult decisions, but equally if not more so, it also sends the message that the firm doesn't have a great head for forward business planning. Which isn't good.
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Nowyoulistentome | 1-Aug-2008 5:45 pm
Tip of the Iceberg
History will repeat itself and when the market picks up firms will be frantically recruiting again, which will lead to another pay war in a couple of years time (so there may be some longer term benefits after all). Another example of short-sighted management by law firms.
Firms are happy to take the credit in the good times when it would have been hard not to have flourished on the backs of other industres (how many firms can you think of that have done badly in the last few years?), but are quick to blame the markets during the bad times. Where are the reserves from the mountains of cash made in recent years for a rainy day?
Oh, there are none because the partners have trousered all the cash and spent it.
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Andanotherthing | 4-Aug-2008 2:29 pm
Accountancy firms
Have there been many redundancies at acountancy firms, or are they managed more competently?
I haven't heard of any in the general press, but have not read any industry press.
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