Even Lawyers Are Feeling the Pinch of Layoffs

According to the Boston Herald even lawyers are starting to get the pink slips and feeling the pain of this recession:

Law firms laying off 1,000
Goodwin Procter axes 74

By Christine McConville | Friday, February 13, 2009

It’s the legal world’s Valentine’s Day Massacre: American law firms just eliminated some 1,000 jobs.

“It’s been a crazy day,” said Elie Mystal, editor in chief of the legal industry Web site Above the Law, which has been tracking the layoffs.

With the economy in the dumps, the mergers and acquisitions that required legal expertise just aren’t happening. And the loss of revenue has forced many businesses to scrutinize their costs. So for a handful of reasons, law firms aren’t getting the amount of work they used to.

“Once the deals dry up, there’s not as much need for man hours,” Mystal said.

Since the start of 2009, he has reported on about 2,000 job cuts at law firms. Then yesterday, he tracked an additional 1,000 cuts.

Those cuts included 74 layoffs at the Boston-based Goodwin Procter.