New York-based firms scored some high-profile work as part of the U.S. government’s response to the economic meltdown. But that has not touched off a hiring boom in their Washington, D.C., offices, the Legal Times 150 survey shows.
Overall, New York players saw head count decline 2.8 percent between April 2008 and April 2009, the period covered by the survey. Of 19 New York firms that made the Legal Times‘ 150, 11 posted decreases. The hardest hit include Chadbourne & Parke, down 16.1 percent; Kaye Scholer, down 13.3 percent; Epstein Becker & Green, down 13 percent; Kelley Drye & Warren, down 10.1 percent; and White & Case, down 9.1 percent. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, the New York firm with the largest office in Washington, D.C., saw its head count slip from 320 to 308 lawyers, a 3.8 percent drop.
