In February, the firm announced its gross revenue was up and that it planned no layoffs.
Gibson Dunn has approximately 1,000 lawyers and 15 offices, including Los Angeles, New York, Washington DC, London, Paris, Munich, Brussels, Dubai, Singapore, Orange County, San Francisco, Palo Alto, Century City, Dallas and Denver.
As a lawyer looking for employment, this is never good news. I keep hearing about these layoffs and they are very disheartening.
I feel that there are layoffs are happening everywhere, because of this recession. I think people need to get over it and go out and buy things so they and other can keep their jobs.
Well, I think it’s hard to “get over it” when way too many people are out of work. Spending, yes it would help the economy however, it’s extremely hard to go out and spend money when your struggling to pay your bills. There is no easy fix to this problem. I hate to hear of anyone losing their job, it never gets less sad.
It’s very disheartening to hear news like this. From “things are good, no need for cuts” to “we need to cut back” in just one month? Sounds like everybody, people and business alike need to adjust their spending habits quickly.
This isn’t good news, though it’s not particularly surprising. What is a little disheartening is the rapid switch from “we’re doing great. Things are fantastic. No one will lose their jobs.” to cutting jobs. However, this is quite a small reduction, considering that they have over 1000 lawyers, not to mention paralegals, receptionists, secretaries, janitors, and whatnot. Typical of todays economy, methinks.
This is terrible, you hate to see such people being put out of work. I suppose the company has to do what it must. I feel for their families.
Perhaps they’re just trying to gear up for worse days? I mean, even though they revenue is increasing but who knows what might happen in this recession era?
36 is quite a low number (out of 1000) but I agree with the comments above. A job lost is a job lost. 36 more people looking for a job that’s available to none.
Hope the storm will go away soon…
Yes, any lay-off is disappointing, and I especially hope that anyone who is laid off finds gainful employment soon. I only wonder if perhaps it is a sign that companies have become over-ambitious? What happened to independent law offices, with just a handful of lawyers, all of whom know their clients personally? Is this another sign that maybe in today’s world we need to go back to “smaller economics” to not only survive, but thrive?
Yes any layoff is disheartening, especially after they seemed to have been doing so well. I hope everyone laid off has found gainful employment, of course. But is this just another sign that we need to go back to smaller economics? Whatever happened to small law firms, with a handful of attorneys and staff who knew all their clients by names? Is it really to the consumers advantage to have their attorneys as part of a company in multiple countries? Have they just gotten too big?
It is really bed because the problem is effecting in law section also. But really 36 is a big number out of 1000. because it is already 3.6%, And I hope the company will back to the positive results.
This must have come as a major bombshell for the workers. Its going to be such a major contrast between work, high pay and no work, no pay at all! I would have gotten a heart attack. Bless these workers and their families.
I am not surprised to know this.The recession has really been doing this to our economy for months already.I feel sorry for those people who lose their jobs in this trying times. I hope the stimulus funds can help this people out. I am working in an American company and I am constantly praying that I wont experience losing my job in the near future.
This is horrible, but it’s happening everywhere due to the recession. It’s a big shock though to see this happening within this industry as you wouldn’t expect a company like Gibson Dunn to have to resort to this. I really feel for the families of those who have lost their jobs and hope that they can find the strength to hold their heads up.
These firms resort to this type of extreme steps disrgarding the painful effect of their decisions.Big corporations should think beyond their balance sheets and uphold the value of corporate social responsibility.
It seems so easy for big companies to lay off employees and blame the present crisis for it, but is there really nothing they can do? All of us in one way or another are already affected by the crisis, what more are those without a job now?
It could be the bad impact of recession or just a benefit of recession period. There are many organizations which are showing benefits in their quarterly result but still they are doing layoff, may be it is because they required more security for their organizations in future and want to cut off their expenditure. Its, quite sad news for those professionals, whose jobs axed by Gibson Dunn & Crutcher.
Essentially, this is just what happens in economic times like these. Unfortunately, companies are interested only in profit. When supply doesn’t meet demand, people have to be cut.
That is great news to hear that Gibson Dunn not only has their gross revenue up but that they were not going to lay off 1,000 employees. No matter what market you are in finding a job weather you are a blue collar or white collar worker is almost impossible now. So it is very good to hear that 1,000 people are going to be keeping their jobs and not adding to the unemployment rate.
Its not only Gibson Dunn & Crutcher problem but it is scenario of almost every company. If they don’t have work what will they do? How they will bring money to pay their employees. So we should understand and without doing any criticism should do hard work.
The effects of the global recession stretches far and wide. I hope that those employees manage to survive the next few weeks/months and find a job soon.
It makes me wonder tho, what the reasons behind the lay-off was, seeing as they announced their revenue was up not too long ago!
Losing even one member of this firm would be a considerable loss for local communities due to the large amount of free pro bono legal work provided by the firm’s attorneys.
Gibson Dunn & Crutcher has an exemplary record of pro bono legal work and require their attorneys to perform at least sixty hours of community legal work yearly. During 2007, most of the firm’s attorneys averaged closer to 100 hours of free, unpaid legal work. Their work with the Alliance for Childrens Rights is commendable. Happy to hear that the firm won’t be losing any of the valuable team members that have made their company strong while giving back to the community.
in such a situation it is very hard to survive the next few weeks/months and find a job soon. But this is what happens in economic times like this.Let us hope these guys will get settled in some good firms soon.
it is certainly devastating to read about layoffs time and again especially by established companies.. law similar to finance has its roots deeply permeated into diverse industries and its hard to escape unscathed in the economic downturn.. if only we there are more read about employment!
i feel bad for the people that got laid off. I was I could say that my job was secure, but with this economy, nobody can be sure.
Statement ensuring stability of tenure of employees or company should be done with discretion. So as not to give false hope to the staffs, rather they should be honest about the status quo of their company to the public particularly to their staff.
Layoffs surprised everybody, they put all the people in trouble from small to big, the company should take responsibility to avoid the layoffs.
They can do by reducing the unnecessary expenses, cutting the staffs salary so nobody needs to loose the job.
This global recession has indeed created unbiased opportunities of laying off work force. We have to be mentally prepared for these eventualities and would have to bear with this scenario _ Anand Jha
layoffs have become very common due to recession. People need to be mentally prepared to be jobless. My advice will be that people should start looking for alternative sources of earning money. People who are safe and secured with their jobs should create a backup on which they can rely on in case they lose their jobs
The way things are going now, is this what the depression felt like, or is it worse for us now? So many people out of jobs and so many businesses either going out of business or just down sizing. Something needs to be done and fast, if stuff is in the works, it’s not happening fast enough!
Im used to seeing layoffs like this. Because I live in Rhode Island which has the highest unimployment rate of all 50 states.
From what i’ve read in this article and many others the recession is only getting worse as the days go by. It looks like my future will have to be carefully planned or I will end up jobless. Being prepared to be jobless is something I will have to do as well.
It just shows that the recession is really affecting the work force. A lot of big companies are laying off and I’m an example of it.
While this is further proof that the recession is affecting not only the lower classes, people higher in the pay scale should also be prepared to be laid off. It is never too late to look for a back up plan, since those 36 staff members now are in a very fragile position which will surely hurt their families and themselves.
Wow, that’s really unforunate, but I guess that’s recession job security for ya… It seems like it’s just getting worse and worse, my kids are even having great difficulty finding part-time summer jobs. Well, here’s to hoping the economy gets back on its feet soon.
Wow that sucks. But I really don’t understand why they’re doing this now even though Obama’s Stimulus is starting up on helping the economy. This occurence wouldn’t have surprised me 6 months ago, but when we’re in the clear how can you just give out like that? Strange logic even for Lawyers.
With an economy like we have, people are unfortunately going to get laid off. its very sad for them because they are left with no job and no money coming into their households.=(
It seems to me that companies are trying to lie about their revenue, and get away with it. I say this because it is hard to believe that this Law firms gross revenues were so high in February that they said there would be “no layoffs”, and then in March they layoff 36 staff members. Something seems fishy.
Well this goes to show you how bad thr economy really is. Not just in the U.S. but globally. But this isn’t the only business in trouble, many are and for most of them its the faukt of the higher ups that take large bonuses and now we are all paying the price…especially those 39 employees.
I think although it is sad these people are losong there jobs this company does not need so many employers. Unless they are a franchise that runs all over the country then yes, this cut may be appropriate
This recession has effected the whole country and it is sad to see that so many good working U.S. citizens have lost there job at Gibson Dunn & Crutcher. The only way to get out of this economic mess is to be persistent and continue working hard to live a good life. America has been great to it’s citizens throughout the good and the bad times and we should all be proud to be an American.
Hello I think this kinda shows how low companys have gone. They told everyone “its gross revenue was up and that it planned no layoffs”. But yet they had fired 36 people a month later.
Its sad especially to those who were struggling even before recession but i feel the companies and corporations think they have to do what is necessary wrong or right, there is no magic potion to solve it cut backs have to be made, budgets have to be revised. I think economic and financial education should be emphasized within the future generations just like global warming.