More Am Law 200 Firms Cut Costs to Ride Out Economic Downturn

More firms are taking action to cut costs—including reduced partner draws, pay cuts, furloughs and canceled summer associate programs—as they adjust to a global economic slowdown related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The firms include Clark Hill; Loeb & Loeb; Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle; Norton Rose Fulbright; and FordHarrison.

Clark Hill, based in Detroit, has instituted cost-saving measures including a pay reduction for attorneys and staff, a freeze on discretionary spending and a revision of certain benefits, according to a statement provided Thursday by the firm. The firm also furloughed some employees.

“We hope that this will be a temporary measure, and anticipate that as we emerge from this period of global health and economic crisis, we will be able to revisit these difficult decisions,” a spokesperson said in the statement.

California-based Loeb & Loeb also took some steps including temporarily reducing partner draws by 20% and deferring the April capital distribution to July, because the federal tax filing was moved to that month, according to a memo from chairman Kenneth Florin.

The firm also reduced pay of income partners, senior counsel, of counsel, associates and senior staff by 15% and paralegals and other staff by 10%,

The Am Law 200 firm Curtis, based in New York, was also reported to have taken cost-cutting moves. The firm slashed associate salaries by 25%, Above the Law reported Wednesday. A Curtis spokesman said in an email to Law.com that the firm “is taking some steps similar to those reported by other firms in response to COVID-19.”

Above the Law also reported that FordHarrison, a labor and employment firm with about 200 lawyers, notified law students that it would cancel its summer associate program, because of the “uncertainty and challenges” of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Also, in offices in Europe, the Middle East and Asia, Norton Rose Fulbright is offering staff reduced working hours and pay for one year in response to the coronavirus pandemic. The firm is also deferring the payment of partner distributions, staff salary increases and bonuses for both groups, Law.com International reported Thursday.

A spokesman for Norton Rose Fulbright in the United States said in an email Thursday, “Our U.S. practice has no plans to take this approach.”

Other firms whose cost-cutting actions have become public include Baker Donelson, which has cut partner draws and plans to temporarily reduce salaries and furlough some employees, Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft, Reed Smith, Womble Bond Dickinson, and Goldberg Segalla, and some midsize firms.

Read More

Norton Rose Fulbright Offers Reduced Hours to Staff, Defers Partner Pay and Bonuses

For Some Law Firm Support Staff, Pandemic Brings New Uncertainty