Law firm first

An Indiana law firm has said it let some employees go because of the economy. Bose McKinney & Evans in Indianapolis sent out a press release last week saying 10 attorneys, two paralegals, and 13 support staff had been let go due to the recession and weakening client demand.

This is the first time a law firm here has publicly admitted to laying off staff and attorneys because of the economy. There weren’t a lot of details, but at least the firm said something.


We’ve discussed attorney and staff layoffs often in this blog, and noted in one post that although we have heard rumors that attorneys were being laid off, without confirmation from the firm, we won’t run a story.

Those that did announce staff layoffs earlier this year wouldn’t say the layoffs were related to the economy, but for other reasons. Perhaps the economy isn’t causing layoffs at other firms, and Indianapolis and our state does have a fairly stable market compared to other areas. But if the economy really had an impact on staff or attorney layoffs, are the firms doing a disservice to their former workers by saying performance or some other reason caused their terminations?

A story about the cuts in the upcoming issue of IL quotes an Indiana University Maurer School of Law – Bloomington professor as saying some firms cut staff because of the economy but say the layoffs are because of performance. When a firm claims staff was cut due to performance reasons, it makes it harder on the person when they have to discuss the job loss with potential employers. It’s much easier to tell a potential employer you were let go because of the economy, not because of performance reasons, he said.

What do you think about Bose’s announcement? Are more to come from other firms or is this an isolated event?