Why Big Law Must Balance Layoffs and Laterals: The Morning Minute
The news and analysis you need to start your day.
January 26, 2023 at 06:00 AM
4 minute read
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WHAT WE'RE WATCHING
THE ART OF MULTITASKING - Big Law giveth and it taketh away. And, as Law.com's Patrick Smith reports, it may need to get used to doing both at the same time more than ever before. Goodwin Procter's head-turning move in January—laying off dozens of firm personnel and then hiring up to 40 lawyers for a new Philadelphia office—caught the legal industry's attention for the abrupt and awkward chain of events. However, industry observers say the two moves at Goodwin were likely unrelated and many other law firms will likely go through this sort of balance of pushing out lawyers and growing in key areas in the coming year—albeit with a slightly less-compressed time frame and less publicity.
MUM'S THE WORD - From Big Tech to legal tech companies, the word on the streets has been the same: layoffs. The official word, however? Well… kind of a lot of BS, actually. Sandwiched between actual staff cuts have been rumors of impending cuts. which are legal tech companies often either dismiss as false, decline to corroborate or avoid addressing altogether only to announce cutbacks days late. All of this, naturally, leaves many to wonder: Will we ever know the true extent of legal tech layoffs? As Law.com's Isha Marathe reports: not bloody likely. "It has started to coalesce into an ugly stew where nobody is revealing what's going on," said Doug Kaminski, chief revenue officer at Cobra Legal Solutions.
YOU DO YOU - As a legal professional, your work is highly specialized—shouldn't your news and analysis be the same? Check out My Law.com, a brand new feature that lets you personalize your Law.com experience by key practice areas, industries, regions, law firms and companies. Choose from more than 150 topics to receive the information that's most relevant to you and what you do. Once you get started, you'll get a daily email with top headlines on your areas of interest.
ON THE RADAR - Four Las Vegas hotel operators, Rainmaker Group and its parent company Cendyn Group were hit with an antitrust lawsuit Wednesday in Nevada District Court. The lawsuit accuses the defendants of artificially inflating the prices of hotel rooms on the Las Vegas Strip above competitive levels. According to the complaint, the defendants used Rainmaker's pricing algorithms which allow the hotel operators to collect supracompetitive prices for their hotel rooms. The class is represented by Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro and Panish Shea & Boyle. Counsel have not yet appeared for the defendants. The case is 2:23-cv-00140, Gibson et al v. MGM Resorts International et al. Stay up on the latest deals and litigation with the new Law.com Radar.
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