Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal has laid off 37 lawyers, 75 staff members, and 12 non-lawyer timekeepers. Firm chairman Elliott Portnoy said the firm’s litigation and real estate departments – the firm’s largest practices – were most directly affected.
“I talked to our people about steps that have been taken by firms that we compete with for clients and talent,” Portnoy told US website Above The Law. “Some have done it openly and transparently, and some have not. We were not going to attempt to do this [reduction in force] below the radar. We were going to do this as openly and transparently as we could. We would not attempt to pass this off as performance-based.”
