Kirkland & Ellis and Gunderson Dettmer Join Growing List of Law Firms Conducting Layoffs
Another major US law firm is conducting layoffs as the trend of Biglaw layoffs continues. Silicon Valley-based firm, Gunderson Dettmer, will be reducing its workforce by around 10 percent, affecting attorneys, paralegals, and other staff across its US offices.
This comes after Kirkland & Ellis, which generated $6 billion in revenues in 2022, announced a similar reduction in force, stating that it was part of the firm’s attorney-review process rather than layoffs.
Gunderson Dettmer has also informed its incoming associates that their start dates may be postponed, and some first-year associates have reportedly been cut.
This marks the firm’s second round of layoffs in the past six months, with the last round seeing the deferral of incoming associates in the fall of 2022.
The Law Firm Layoff Rollcall
Cooley. Goodwin Procter, Stroock & Stroock & Lavan, Davis Wright Tremaine, Perkins Coie and Shearman & Sterling are also among the law firms that announced layoffs last year in the US citing a slowdown in work.
As LawFuel reported this week, law firms are facing more turbulent and challenging times with layoffs mounting.
The trend of layoffs in the legal industry has been caused by the changing market conditions, which became evident last year and as shown in a Thomson Reuters report showing a decline in profits and profitability. The market has shifted due to rising interest rates, high inflation, and recession fears.
Law firms have been hiring lawyers to keep up with the demand for global dealmaking, which has now slowed down.
Large law firms are advising on fewer deals with a smaller combined value, as mergers and acquisitions activity fell to its lowest level in more than a decade in the first quarter of 2023, according to data released on Tuesday by Refinitiv.
The total value of global announced M&A deals in the first quarter was $580 billion, a 44% dip compared to the same period last year and a 23% decline compared to the previous quarter.
