Orrick lays off 40 lawyers in latest US round
Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe has become the latest US firm to announce layoffs, with 40 associates across its real estate, structured finance and corporate practices set to leave the firm.
In addition to associate layoffs a total of 35 support staffers have been shed from the US firm.
In a statement released today (13 November) by the firm, Orrick blamed the unprecedented challenges facing global capital markets for the layoffs.
The statement said: “Throughout 2008, we have done all we could have done to avoid today’s action: we have redeployed lawyers to different practices and we have cut expenses. Unfortunately, our staffing levels in the affected practices still remained too high given the economic environment our clients and we face. The three affected practice areas, however, continue their roles as important financial and strategic contributors.”
Orrick announced its layoffs just one month after it hired a group of almost 30 lawyers from dissolved firm Heller Ehrman.
The statement added: “We believe these actions are necessary to adapt to changes in the world economy and the demand for certain legal services. These actions are unrelated to performance and are across the firm’s global regions.”
