2022 = "Getting Cooleyed" - 2009 = "Getting Lathamed"

This second round of terminations at Cooley law firm has been labeled "a layoff." The earlier round had been classified as "performance-based."

Bloomberg Law reports that 78 lawyers and 72 paralegals and business staff have been let go. That totaled 150.

Unless another law firm can top that number before this year ends, the mantra could be "Getting Cooleyed." In 2009, what rang out was "Getting Lathamed," after Latham in one day axed 440. 190 of them had been associates. 

Now posters and responders to those posts on the professional anonymous networks will begin bleeding out with extreme angst. The mindset will be: If it can happen at Cooley it can happen at my firm. For months associates have been counting up how many hours they have been short for their quotas. With demand stuck in slow the magical thinking was over of making an end run before January.

Sure, Cooley focuses on tech and much of tech is already in a version of recessionary times. But there are other firms not properly diversified - for instance, too heavily in M&A - which could also experience slow demand - and large layoffs (which are actually called “layoffs”).

What kind of impact this reduction-in-force can have on the Cooley brand remains uncertain. Will it be "forgiven," given current business conditions? 

 Meanwhile we recall from 2008 - 2009 that the law firm chairman who didn't lay off - Paul Weiss' Brad Karp - started out strong. He had just been voted in by the partners to that position.

No surprise, he's still there, and seemingly still playing it smart. For 2021, Paul Weiss' Profits Per Equity Partner beat that of market-maker Cravath. Despite M&A's falling off the cliff in general Paul Weiss landed the Estee Lauder proposed transaction with Tom Ford. Let's hope that sort of leadership can still stop the ax from swinging.

Good luck to the Cooley lawyers and staff who have lost their jobs. May they find comparable ones. I believe in luck.

UPDATE:

Those of Fishbowl Big Law have a lot to say about the Cooley layoffs. Click on here to scroll through that.

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