Bilzin Sumberg Baena Price & Axelrod has cut some attorney and staff positions, managing partner John Sumberg confirmed while discussing the firm's pullout from a $58 million Miami lease deal.

"We have done what every business has done in the recession in reducing expenditures generally, which has included streamlining a couple of staff positions and excess capacity in the transactional areas," he said in an e-mail.

Sumberg declined to say exactly how many positions were cut.

"It was a small number," he added. "It does not affect our lease needs or the amount of space we are looking to lease."

Sources say at least two attorney and two secretary positions in the firm's corporate and real estate areas were cut. The attorney positions included a nonequity partner in the corporate practice and a real estate associate.

Sumberg said the firm expects to have moderate growth going forward.

"I don't think there is a business out there, whether a law firm or other, that really knows what's going to happen with this economy in the very short term," he said in a phone interview. "When you ask what our growth expectations are in a year or two years or three years, our expectations are for moderate growth. Our growth and the economy over the mid- and long term is going to be very positive."

Sumberg said the firm's lawyers are busiest in its litigation, bankruptcy and workout practices.

"Those are the areas where we're very busy and where we are expecting to grow," he said. "Our primary focus right now for growth is in litigation. We're actively looking for lawyers in that area."

The cuts are a sign of the times in the legal industry, where many firms have resorted to layoffs for the first time since early this decade. More than 700 attorneys and staffers coincidentally lost their jobs Feb. 12 in the worst one-day cutback of the recession to date.

Legal headhunters say they're advising laid-off attorneys, particularly those with real estate and corporate experience, to be open to a variety of options including positions with federal agencies.

"We advise them most likely they're going to end up finding something on their own behalf through networking," said Sherry Schneider, managing partner of the Lucas Group's Miami office. "There are some searches for transactional attorneys, but they're very minimal."

Gina Torres, a headhunter with Personnel Management Solutions in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., said, "What I've been telling many of my applicants right now, if we don't have something now something will turn up."

The Layoff List