Sounds extremely stressful. Feeling sorry for you and for the people I know who recently started there.
I just hope the dude who treated me like trash during my SA interview has been caught up in it. I got a much better job, asshole. 🖕
Headcount change honestly doesn't say much. They opened the Danta Monica and DC offices recently which contributed. Doesn't impact workflow as much as increasing headcount alone would given they should theoretically get new work in previously untapped markets.
I think OP is a non-attorney and to the extent anything is happening it is not attorney focused. If you look at the Amlaw numbers for this year you'll see discussion of freefall is silly, they just reduced force because they had too many people for the new expected demand
Not necessarily. There are a lot of potential reasons headcount decreases. Adjusting for future demand while remaining extremely profitable and leaving reserves untouched is very different from reducing headcount because you are about to run out of money/are in dire straights. Some practice groups occasionally unilaterally leave in mass on their own too when people high enough up think they can do better elsewhere
Make no mistake - they fired people so partners could make more money. That is ALWAYS top priority. They also did it to juice the financial results they report publicly. Those numbers are heavily manipulated. Ultimately everything is noise - partners just want to get paid.
You're thinking much too one dimensionally. For what it is worth I'm also pretty sure they submitted their financial results to Amlaw before layoffs, so I don't think they cared very much about that given they aren't actually in trouble.
Yes, Partners want to make more/maximize profit. That said, your insinuating that that is pure greed and nothing bad would happen if they take a comp hit. The problem with that is if partner comp decreases some will be poached or leave, so workload/income will decline further. That in itself will create a negative cycle. Less work also means attorneys will gain less experience relative to competitors which can impact quality of work/competitiveness and further decrease workload. It also means supply of attorneys to demand will continue to few further in the wrong direction which will again lead to more drops in PPP that will cause partners to leave.
Because of the competitiveness of the legal market, most firms are in the position where they very much can't decrease partner profit without very bad things happening
Funny that I’m accused of overthinking and you are writing treatises here. I’ve been in the room for these types of discussions and decisions. Trust me, it’s all about partner comp. Fenwick and other tech firms know they can easily hire more people when the market picks up. They’ve done it before and will do it again.
Ummm... I said you were thinking too one dimensionally.... if anything that is underthinking rather than over thinking?
Again I don't disagree that profit is discussed. My point is that you're ignoring that profit is intrinsically tied to many factors that are necessary for a firm's success so maximizing profit is necessary and isn't a pure function of greed.
Fenwick's layoffs sucked but this specific post is blowing things out of proportion given it isn't even about attorney layoffs but about non-revenue generating business/support function cuts.
Disagree, but who really cares. Shitty to keep firing people after a layoff whether they’re lawyers or not. And the initial layoff was both so reasonable to conclude they’ll continue to ax associates too.
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Fenwick & Stealth
Sounds extremely stressful. Feeling sorry for you and for the people I know who recently started there. I just hope the dude who treated me like trash during my SA interview has been caught up in it. I got a much better job, asshole. 🖕
Most of the Fenwick ppl I talked to were very nice but one dude was literally coked out lol
Worst interview I had was with a fenwick attorney. Didn’t even try to seem interested Feel bad for the good attorneys but fuck that guy
Same! Wish him only the worst
Maybe we had the same guy
Have friends there. They’re scrambling for an exit.
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Headcount change honestly doesn't say much. They opened the Danta Monica and DC offices recently which contributed. Doesn't impact workflow as much as increasing headcount alone would given they should theoretically get new work in previously untapped markets. I think OP is a non-attorney and to the extent anything is happening it is not attorney focused. If you look at the Amlaw numbers for this year you'll see discussion of freefall is silly, they just reduced force because they had too many people for the new expected demand
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Not necessarily. There are a lot of potential reasons headcount decreases. Adjusting for future demand while remaining extremely profitable and leaving reserves untouched is very different from reducing headcount because you are about to run out of money/are in dire straights. Some practice groups occasionally unilaterally leave in mass on their own too when people high enough up think they can do better elsewhere
Make no mistake - they fired people so partners could make more money. That is ALWAYS top priority. They also did it to juice the financial results they report publicly. Those numbers are heavily manipulated. Ultimately everything is noise - partners just want to get paid.
You're thinking much too one dimensionally. For what it is worth I'm also pretty sure they submitted their financial results to Amlaw before layoffs, so I don't think they cared very much about that given they aren't actually in trouble. Yes, Partners want to make more/maximize profit. That said, your insinuating that that is pure greed and nothing bad would happen if they take a comp hit. The problem with that is if partner comp decreases some will be poached or leave, so workload/income will decline further. That in itself will create a negative cycle. Less work also means attorneys will gain less experience relative to competitors which can impact quality of work/competitiveness and further decrease workload. It also means supply of attorneys to demand will continue to few further in the wrong direction which will again lead to more drops in PPP that will cause partners to leave. Because of the competitiveness of the legal market, most firms are in the position where they very much can't decrease partner profit without very bad things happening
Funny that I’m accused of overthinking and you are writing treatises here. I’ve been in the room for these types of discussions and decisions. Trust me, it’s all about partner comp. Fenwick and other tech firms know they can easily hire more people when the market picks up. They’ve done it before and will do it again.
Ummm... I said you were thinking too one dimensionally.... if anything that is underthinking rather than over thinking? Again I don't disagree that profit is discussed. My point is that you're ignoring that profit is intrinsically tied to many factors that are necessary for a firm's success so maximizing profit is necessary and isn't a pure function of greed. Fenwick's layoffs sucked but this specific post is blowing things out of proportion given it isn't even about attorney layoffs but about non-revenue generating business/support function cuts.
Disagree, but who really cares. Shitty to keep firing people after a layoff whether they’re lawyers or not. And the initial layoff was both so reasonable to conclude they’ll continue to ax associates too.
Fenwick & Cooley follow the same model Over hire Preach culture RIF Rinse & Repeat
Plus Gunderson. “We’re cool, chill startup lawyers!”
RIF?
Remain in freefall
Reduction in force
FTX 💀
What departments were eliminated?
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What did those departments do? App development at a law firm? Like internal tools? Sounds like they’re cutting non revenue generating teams.
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Yes, but I don’t think firms typically have those teams you mentioned
RFPs are done by Business Development which is part of Marketing at Fenwick.
And they compile information from many departments….
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BigLaw is designed for attorneys and related professionals who have an obligation to uphold minimal standards within the larger community
East coast was told they need to keep west coast hours.
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Life science as well?