Patton Boggs Reduces Headcount by 13.4 Percent – No Partners Laid Off, Yet

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In an interview with the press on Friday, Edward Newberry, managing partner of Patton Boggs told that the Washington-based law firm has laid off 30 lawyers and 35 other employees, though no partners have yet been removed.

However, Newberry had earlier informed the National Law Journal that at least 18 partners have been told over the past six weeks that their “performance here isn’t satisfactory,” and they should leave if they cannot improve their performance.

The Newark, New Jersey office of the firm lost the highest number of attorneys, but lawyers and staff were laid off across offices in Washington, New York, Dallas and Denver. However, the offices in Alaska and the Middle East were not affected.

  

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2012 had been disappointing for Patton Boggs with the law firm with a drop of 6.3 percent in gross revenues, and profits per partner falling by 5.1 percent against 2011. The net income of the law firm fell by 14.1 percent.

After a meeting with partners on Friday morning, Newberry said, “We took the action we felt we needed to protect the profitability of the firm and the financial strength of the firm.” Newberry also pointed out the fact that, unlike many other law firms, Patton did not layoff anyone during the recession.

He said, “We are one of the only large firms in the U.S. that made no reductions during any point during the recession.” According to Newberry, the cuts in the 485-lawyer (now 455-lawyer) law-firm would save $14.7 million of the firm’s money.

Newberry also said that he expected the firm to have a good financial year and that Patton Boggs had scored its biggest January revenue in the last five years, this year. He said, “We’re making smart, strategic investments, and we’ll continue to focus on business development, we’ll continue to focus on disciplined expense management, making sure revenue is aligned with expenses and head count.”