Katten Muchin Rosenman has laid off some attorneys and staffers and reassigned certain lawyers to more in-demand practices, the firm said Tuesday, citing a slowdown in the market for some of its services.
“After working through these conditions for some time and a careful review of our business, we made the difficult decision to address this overcapacity by parting ways with a small number of our attorneys and business support professionals,” the firm said in a statement.
Katten also noted that it is deferring some associates start dates from October to February.
The firm did not immediately reply to questions about how many attorneys and staffers were affected by the cuts, as well as how many first-year associates had their start dates delayed, but did say the cuts impact less than 5% of firm personnel.
Katten, which has about 700 lawyers, is part of a growing group of Big Law firms that have trimmed their attorney and staff ranks this year as lucrative practices like mergers and acquisitions see a substantial decline in demand.
Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe and Cooley are among the Big Law firms that have implemented layoffs and deferred first-year associate start dates. In June, Orrick laid off roughly 90 attorneys and staff and delayed its incoming class start date.
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