Despite more firms reporting revenue, profit and headcount growth, as well as a desire to open new locations, attorney layoffs remain a real possibility and staff cuts appear to be even more likely in the coming year.
In The Legal’s 18th annual Managing Partners Survey, conducted this summer, more Pennsylvania law firm leaders said their firms grew revenue and profits, but an increased number also said they foresee staff layoffs in the next year.
Meanwhile, attorney layoffs still remain a viable option for some firms as well.
While 2011’s survey garnered optimistic responses that seemed to signal a turn for the better following the recession, 2012’s survey saw many of those hopes dashed, with firm leaders predicting staff and attorney layoffs, as well as de-equitizations, in the wake of slow financial growth.
The responses to this year’s survey returned to a sunnier economic outlook but showed that even marked financial improvement has not been enough to remove the target from support staff and attorney positions.
Consultants have said this should come as no surprise because, unlike during the recession, most of these cuts have nothing to do with financial struggles and everything to do with firms trying to become more efficient in a rapidly changing legal landscape.
GROWTH AND CUTS
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