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Ed. note: Welcome to our daily feature, Quote of the Day.
We would expect to see some more adjustments if the demand picture doesn’t pick up. And unfortunately, we don’t see it picking up.
— Owen Burman, managing director for the Wells Fargo Legal Group, in comments given to the American Lawyer on the likelihood of more layoffs being conducted among Am Law 100 firms in 2023. Wells Fargo is projecting a recession to begin in the second half of the year, which does not bode well for Biglaw. “With the first quarter ending with a mild credit scare and increasing concern about economic growth, we are not surprised by recent press reports of headcount rationalization and postponement of associate starting dates,” the group noted in its most recent report. “While many announcements are among firms that hired most aggressively, other firms may follow suit if the transactional environment fails to improve. In the absence of demand growth, we expect firms to be vigilant on expense management, seeking operational efficiencies to offset required investments for in-person meetings and infrastructure improvements.”
Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.
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