Skadden Lays Off Some U.S. Professional Staff Amid Covid-19

Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom has laid off some of its professional staff in the U.S. as Big Law grapples with the new economic considerations brought about by Covid-19.

“We can confirm that we have laid off just under 4% of professional staff across our U.S. offices,” the firm said in an email to Bloomberg Law.

Attorneys were not a part of the cuts announced by the firm.

Some Big Law firms recently announced layoffs as they rethink long term planning and budget considerations in the face of a pandemic that doesn’t seem to be slowing down.

Baker McKenzie said this week that it would be cutting 6% of its North American workforce as a part of a move to realign practices and prepare “for the next normal.” This included lawyers, timekeepers, and business professionals across its offices in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.

Davis Wright Tremaine also made the decision to lay off some of the 8% of staff furloughed back in May, noting that it made the decision “not knowing when, if ever, their previous work will return.”

On the flip side, Davis Wright restored 50% of the salary reductions it had instituted in May and Baker McKenzie said it intended to restore cut salaries in North America by the beginning of 2021.

Other firms like Kelley, Drye & Warren, Loeb & Loeb,Crowell & Moring, Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, Holland & Knight, Katten Muchin Rosenman, Fox Rothschild, K&L Gates, Baker Botts, Reed Smith, and Sheppard, Mullin, Richter, and Hampton have also walked back cuts.