Top 20 Biglaw Firm Conducts Layoffs En Masse, Letting Go 150 Attorneys And Staff

// We’ve been reporting on alleged hiring freezes and stealth layoffs at Cooley since September. Throughout that time, the firm issued denials and claimed that any layoffs were the result of unsatisfactory performance reviews. Now, the bloom is officially off the rose.

Today, Cooley — a firm that brought in $1,986,777,000 gross revenue in 2021 — outright laid off 150 employees, a combination of both attorneys (78) and paralegals and business professionals (72), providing notice of its actions in an internal memo to the entire firm.

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Chairman Joseph Conroy referred to the cuts as a “painful but necessary” step to deal with the firm’s “overcapacity.” It seems that the firm overhired during last year’s post-pandemic workload boom, and now that a tech implosion is upon us, Cooley is feeling the burn. “Simply put, we hired more talent than we can reasonably develop, train and deploy against current and anticipated client demand,” Conroy said.

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In its memo (available in full on the next page), Conroy says the firm is making “comprehensive severance benefits” available to all lawyers and staff members who were part of today’s reduction in force. One of our attorney sources claims that three months’ of severance has been offered to those who lost their jobs.

Cooley is being incredibly transparent with its workforce as far as these layoffs are concerned. Will more firms be forced to make outright layoffs thanks to their 2021 hiring sprees? Let’s hope not.

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Best of luck to those who are being let go from Cooley.

(Flip to the next page to see the full memo from Cooley.)

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If your firm or organization is reducing the ranks of its lawyers or staff, whether through open layoffs, stealth layoffs, or voluntary buyouts, please don’t hesitate to let us know. Our vast network of tipsters is part of what makes Above the Law thrive. You can email us or text us (646-820-8477).

If you’d like to sign up for ATL’s Layoff Alerts, please scroll down and enter your email address in the box below this post. If you previously signed up for the layoff alerts, you don’t need to do anything. You’ll receive an email notification within minutes of each layoff announcement that we publish.

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Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

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Biglaw, Cooley, Layoffs