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Lawyers are leaving KEL law firm but not by choice. No one knows how much staff was actually dismissed but several lawyers were laid off this past week. This is sad news for the lawyer world because many firms were just now recovering from the recession. The most troubling part of this story is that no one knows why these lawyers were dismissed.
One of the founders of the firms covers up the questions by saying they over-hired in certain areas. Letting go some of the lawyers helps release some of the stress of having too many workers. Jeffrey Kaufman (the co-founder) also states that a law firm is a lot like any other business.
“We have people who come and go all the time at different times of the year,” Kaufman said. “It is like the retail business — things slow down at certain times of the year and get busy at other times. But this is not an issue of times being bad for us. Really, this is not a big deal at all.”
While it may not be a big deal to him, it is a big deal to those who walked out of the law firm without a job. Some of the top lawyers of the firm received their notices as early as Tuesday last week. Again, one laid off lawyer explains that no one knows who was laid off and how many were let go. However, there is some speculation as to why these lay-offs might have occurred.
“Mistakes in a consumer-bankruptcy case involving Sanchez and the inadvertent violation of a related court order drew the wrath of U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Arthur Briskman, who temporarily barred KEL from practicing bankruptcy law in the Middle District of Florida. The Orlando-based judge later filed a complaint with The Florida Bar and cited KEL itself for what he termed “unprofessional” work.”
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One of the lawyers who received a “lay-off notice”– states that he has cleared his role in the matter. The lawyer, also known as William Sanchez, states that he must take a few exams to refresh his license and also pay a small fine. However, an ongoing investigation still exists with “KEL partners Kaufman, Matt Englett and Craig Lynd.”
Several of the “laid-off” employees have spoken up about “why they think this has happened.” Many of the “former employees” think it has to do with the foreclosure aspect of the law firm. Whether KEL law firm confirms this or not is up to them. However, Kaufman still continues to deny that this is the reason the company has slowed down with business. Kaufman continues to state the following
“This has nothing whatsoever to do with the downturn in foreclosures. That area is still very good for us,” he said. “It doesn’t make up a majority of our work, anyway. We have huge areas of family law in which we are also doing well.”
