robeck, Phleger & Harrison is cutting the ranks of its so-called knowledge managers and taking the unusual step of doing away with its staff of paralegal supervisors.
The head paralegal supervisor, her four-person staff of supervisors and three of Brobeck's five knowledge managers were told this week that their jobs were being eliminated. The firm also has trimmed its national advertising budget.
While the number of staff cuts is small, it reflects a shift in firm strategy. Firmwide Managing Partner Richard Parker said the layoffs will reduce costs but are "more functionality issues."
"There are a couple of functions that don't fit with what we're trying to do, with the direction we're going," Parker said.
The move is the latest belt-tightening measure at Brobeck. Brobeck is among several firms that have trimmed costs, primarily by laying off associates and staff, since the legal market faltered in the fall. After new Chairman Richard Odom and Parker took over leadership of Brobeck in November, the firm announced a buyout offer for associates in the business and technology group. And in February, the firm also laid off 54 associates and 85 staff.
But the latest action is rare in that it involves eliminating the paralegal supervisors, a group that most firms consider vital.
Parker said the work of the paralegal supervisors, who are not attorneys, will in the future be done by lawyers. The supervisors oversee 104 paralegals. Similarly, he said he and Odom believe that attorneys should be responsible for the content that knowledge managers put on the firm's intranet.
Firms say it's very common to employ non-attorneys as paralegal supervisors. As for replacing them with attorneys, Cheri Vaillancour, chief employment officer at Fenwick & West said, "I wouldn't want to do it. Attorneys are more effectively used as revenue generators."
Brobeck created the knowledge management department about three years ago, expanding the job of one person in the business and technology group to a five-person firmwide team. The group puts together resources and information to be shared by attorneys throughout the firm. For example, lawyers may go to the intranet and find out which Brobeck attorneys have appeared before a particular judge.
Parker said some of the paralegal supervisors may be placed in other positions in the firm, but he didn't think there would be other jobs available for the knowledge managers.
In addition to the staff cuts, Brobeck is also halting its national television advertising campaign. As a result, David Geyer, the head of the marketing department, recently tendered his resignation.
Geyer was hired several years ago to help Brobeck build a brand name. As part of that effort, Brobeck began running ads on CNN last year, and this year also began an ad campaign on C-SPAN. Parker said the TV ads have cost "up to $5 million to $6 million."
"We decided back in December not to put resources into ads on television, but into local marketing events," Parker said. Geyer's "skill and interest is in national advertising work."
