December 16, 2008 1:53 PM

Dechert Lays Off 72 Staff in U.S.

Posted by Ed Shanahan

By Gina Passarella from The Legal Intelligencer

Dechert has become the latest in a string of firms to announce staff layoffs.

A firm spokesperson has confirmed that Dechert has laid off 72 administrative staff across its U.S. offices, but would not provide details on which positions specifically and how many from each office. The cuts, she says, basically are proportionate across the firm's 11 U.S. offices.

The 72 administrative positions account for about 12.6 percent of the firms 570 U.S. staffers. Dechert has about 1,045 attorneys firmwide. According to the spokesperson, the firm has no plans to cut any attorneys or additional staff at the present time.

The firm has not said whether the cuts are economic or performance based. The spokesperson says the cuts were made in order to "operate more efficiently and address the overcapacity we have."

The news comes after a recent report that 15 support staff in Dechert's London office were subject to redundancy consultations.

The firm laid off 13 U.S. associates in its finance and real estate practice in March and then later gave that group the option of taking temporary positions in other practice groups. Further attorney layoff rumors swirled around the firm in October, but chairman Barton J. Winokur adamantly denied them, saying some structured finance attorneys were moved into other practice areas.

The above is an excerpt of a report from The Legal Intelligencer (subscription only).

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