Why would you suddenly and publicly fire or demote 10% of your partners?
According to The Wall Street Journal, "Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw LLP, on Friday said that 45 partners have been asked to leave or accept other positions there as part of a restructuring".
According to thier own web site, Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw LLP is among the largest law practices in the world, with more than 1,500 lawyers operating in 14 major cities worldwide including London, Frankfurt, Paris, Chicago, New York, Washington D.C. and Hong Kong.
Punchline: I am not shocked that a law firm would cull its herd of partners but most do so discretely offering assistance to those affected to keep organic appearances. This sudden and public move sends a message that is less than positive. Why?
The story requires a subscription: Mayer Fires, Demotes 45 Partners
The Chicago Tribune reported that Mayer Brown was ranked 8th in terms of revenue but only 51st in PPP.
Publicly culling the bottom 10% was pretty harsh; but maybe that was by design to dramatically reassure the top 10% that Mayer Brown was committed to improvement.
Prevent high level defections, improve partner level recruitment, etc.
Yep. Holland & Knight did the same thing in April 2002. I was an associate there at the time. It was a very similar situation: the firm was among the top 10 or 12 firms in terms of number of lawyers but was around 80th in terms of revenue and 120th in terms of PPP. While almost all of the 10% of lawyers who were cut were "partners," the move had a very negative effect on morale overall. The bottom line is that clients hire lawyers, not firms, and the bottom 10% of "partners" at the Biglaw firms are probably not performing in terms of client development. The junior "partners" I saw fired were, without exception, excellent technical lawyers. But they had grown up under the umbrella of the Biglaw firm easy-street system. Imagine being a big firm lawyer for 18 years and then, just like that, you're on your own.
That's why I decided to take Foonberg's advice and try to stand on my own two feet--the only true job security.