| 
Jerry Clements, chairwoman of Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell, says the firm laid off associates, counsel and staff today for economic reasons. She declines to give a headcount but says the layoffs affected all 13 offices. She says no partners were laid off, nor were any de-equitized or changed to counsel status. Clements says the practice areas hardest hit were real estate and finance.
Clements says the staff layoffs are effective today, while lawyers have a few weeks to finish up matters. The layoffs impact most levels of associates.
She says the firm's fundamentals remain sound and the firm is trying to be prudent. "This was a very difficult and emotional day," Clements says.
Additionally, the firm today notified its incoming fall associate class of 31 who were supposed to start in September that they will be starting in January 2010. The firm's summer associate program will not be affected, she says, although "we will probably have a little less extravagant entertainment."
She says the staff layoffs are largely related to increased leverage in the timekeeper-to-secretary ratio. The firm went to a 3.5-to-1 ratio from a 3-to-1 ratio.
Another change, effective April 1, is that the firm will no longer pay for associates' parking; the firm already does not pay for partner or staff parking.
The firm was growing earlier this year. On Feb. 2, Locke Lord announced that 33 lawyers from New York intellectual property boutique Morgan & Finnegan, including 13 partners, joined the firm. Locke Lord, then at 710 lawyers, picked up 28 lawyers in New York City, four in Washington, D.C., and one in San Francisco.
Gross revenue at Locke Lord was flat in 2008 at $401 million, when compared to consolidated gross revenue of $401.5 million in 2007 for the two firms that formed Locke Lord, but net income improved. Net income at Locke Lord was $130 million in 2008, up 6.2 percent from the previous year, when net income totaled $122.4 million for the two firms. In October 2007, Texas firm Locke Liddell & Sapp and Chicago firm Lord, Bissell & Brook combined to form Locke Lord, but each firm reported separate numbers for 2007.
Locke Lord has offices in Dallas, Houston, Austin, Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, London, Los Angeles, New Orleans, New York, Sacramento, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.
Brenda Sapino Jeffreys is a senior reporter with Texas Lawyer.
