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The Big Green "O" Stands for "OMG"

So now the WSJ Law Blog and Above The Law are reporting that Orrick is going to be laying off 40 attorneys (and 35 staff).

In the comments on another post, I've been debating with McWho on whether the collapse of Heller and Thelen are primarily the result of the economy or poor management. That's not much consolation to Heller employees, I know. But it's important for law students, since most firms are going to cut back, but not expire.

My point in this post, however, is to focus on California. In light of Heller and Thelen, Orrick is the third SF-based firm to face difficulties. And Orrick has one of the strongest practices in Northern California; after all, they were the ones that raised market salaries to NY levels in 2006.

It seems to me that the California legal market swings more widely than other areas in the US, probably since it is largely fueled by venture capitalism. This is bad news for Boalt, since our law students--more than any other national law firm, including Stanford--tend to self-select to California markets.

Full post as published by Nuts & Boalts on November 13, 2008 (boomark / email).