Summary: Dentons has undergone staff reduction efforts a year after their latest merger due to data showing an excess in their resources.
Just weeks after news broke that K&L Gates was reducing its staff, reports have surfaced that Dentons is also making cuts. The reasons behind the layoffs are unknown, although the fact that associate salaries increased significantly last year is probably a factor.
Dentons has enjoyed a year of growth but with that worldwide expansion comes more cost that they are likely trying to reduce. Two years ago they merged with McKenna Long & Aldridge, greatly enhancing their presence in New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Washington D.C. and San Francisco. They now are situated internationally in Australia, Central America, China, and Singapore. Just last year, they launched a joint back office function between Dentons European and UK in Warsaw. This move cut 25 positions.
Above The Law first reported the layoffs. A firm spokesperson confirmed the cuts with the total number of cuts standing at 60 jobs from 22 of their offices in the United States.
Dentons stated:
As part of regular business operations, Dentons has undertaken a review of its US internal operations. The legal sector is rapidly evolving, and just like our clients it is important that we constantly explore ways to ensure our business is aligned to the needs of our partners and clients to demonstrate continued value. Having completed one full year post merger in the US, we now have a complete set of data on our combined operations, as well as continued integration of our US and global support teams. In many US locations, we have concluded moving from two to one, and consolidated many systems, among other integration. As a result, earlier this week we implemented a realignment of our business services teams. Regrettably, this resulted in notifications of an overall reduction of approximately 60 positions in business services across our 22 US offices. This process is complete.
Do you think there are other factors such as the advancement in technology that are playing a role in the layoffs? Tell us in the comments below.
To learn more about the associate salary increases, read these articles:
- “Cravath Effect” Takes Place with Several Firms Upping Salary Rates
- Why the Law Firm Associate Salary Increase Is a Bad Thing
- Certain Law Firms Will Be Hurt by Associate Salary Increase, Report Claims
To learn more about technological advances in law firms, read these articles:
- Dentons Backs Univ. of Toronto’s Robot
- Stanford Student “Robot Lawyer” Fights Parking Tickets in Seattle
- Presence of Robots in Legal Industry Growing
Photo: wisegeek.org