TCPAWORLD ON A FRIDAY AFTERNOON: Two GREAT Candidates Might be Coming to Troutman Firm Soon…And I Can’t Wait to Talk About It

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I love disrupting the legal profession…

Everyone is so excited about the success of Troutman Firm. Huge huge momentum. New clients every week.

That’s all great, of course, but we also need to keep adding great lawyers to keep up with demand. Spoke to two AMAZING applicants this week. Incredibly excited for the potential opportunities here. (Let the rumors begin…)

Plus some murmurs of practice groups breaking off of #biglaw to join. I suspect some jaws may be on the floor soon, but the bigger moves will take a little time. (More rumors can start now…)

Assuming the two folks I am REALLY digging right now pan out I am still looking for one more lucky associate to join by year’s end. Folks really seem to be responding to the news of #biglaw’s forthcoming efforts to jettison perceived “weak links.” Here’s a report from Above the Law from yesterday:

Hiring Freezes And Stealth Layoffs Hit Top 50 Biglaw Firms

Earlier this week, we discussed the legal sector’s loss of nearly 9,000 jobs in August. At the time, we wondered if law firm rightsizing could possibly be to blame. On top of that, legal recruiters are saying that “demand for associates no longer exceeds supply,” and that the frenzied hiring we saw last year is simply no more thanks to a slowdown in work. Now, news of law firm hiring freezes and stealth layoffs at top Biglaw firms has come to light, and we’re no longer wondering.

According to a report from the American Lawyer, numerous firms in the Am Law top 50 have implemented austerity measures when it comes to controlling their attorney headcounts. Here are the details:

Cooley has implemented a freeze on hiring associates, sources close to the firm have told The American Lawyer. Leaders at Cooley declined to comment for this story, but a spokesperson denied the existence of an “official hiring freeze” at the firm. …

Meanwhile, sources close to Reed Smith said the global law firm is dealing with profitability gaps between its London office and lower-performing locations, including its oldest office in Pittsburgh, leading the firm to let go of more senior lawyers without significant books.

While Cooley didn’t offer much of a statement other than to deny that an “official hiring freeze” was in effect (something we haven’t heard of from Biglaw in more than a decade), a spokesperson for Reed Smith offered the following: “We continually evaluate all aspects of our business in order to best support our clients and ensure the continued strength of the firm. In the normal course of our business, we routinely make personnel decisions. These decisions are consistent with personnel actions we have taken in the past as we prudently manage our business.” As many of our dedicated readers know, talk like this really smacks of stealth layoffs.

Stealth layoffs are the disturbingly popular method used by Biglaw firms to cull the associate (and partner) herd. For those who might be hearing the term for the first time, stealth layoffs allow firms to cut headcount without confirming that there were any financially based layoffs. Firm frequently couch the reductions in performance review terms that coincidentally happen in the midst of a downturn — whether economic- or demand-related — often making those let go doubt their lawyering skills. By their secretive nature, they can be challenging to confirm in specific numbers, but insiders slowly find out something is amiss.

Now that the cat is out of the bag and we know that firms are trying to manage their attorney ranks, we think we’ll be seeing many more of these stealth layoffs as firms desperately try to avoid the incredibly negative publicity that goes hand in hand with outright layoffs.

*Sips coffee to hide a knowing smile.*

To be clear I am not rooting for any person or even any firm to fail– I like seeing people succeed and I spend most of my time helping to make that happen. But I am rooting for the downfall of profiteering in the legal profession. Partners shouldn’t be paying themselves $8MM each. Come on.

The big firm model is dead and the success of Troutman Firm is a very clear leading indicator that MASSIVE companies will gladly turn to true expertise rather than a shiny nameplate (although my nameplate is pretty shiny). And its smart too–they pay less and get better service to go along with great results.

NO surprise everyone wants to be a part of this thing. And I love being at the forefront of (another) awesome movement. (R.E.A.C.H. still pending–SORRY I am so slow setting it up right now but LOTS of work to do–did you not just read everything I just wrote? ;))

Happy weekend!

 

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Published by Eric J. Troutman

The Czar of TCPAWorld Eric Troutman is one of the country’s prominent class action defense lawyers and is nationally recognized in Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) litigation and compliance. He has served as lead defense counsel in more than 70 national TCPA class actions and has litigated nearly a thousand individual TCPA cases in his role as national strategic litigation counsel for major banks and finance companies. He also helps industry participants build TCPA-compliant processes, policies, and systems. Eric has built a national litigation practice based upon deep experience, rigorous analysis and extraordinary responsiveness. Eric and his team feel equally at home litigating multibillion dollar telecommunications class actions in federal court as they do developing and executing national litigation strategies for institutions facing an onslaught of individual TCPA matters. They thrive in each of these roles – delivering consistently excellent results – while never losing sight of the client experience. While many firms now tout TCPA expertise, Eric has been there from the beginning. He built one of the country’s first TCPA-only defense teams and began serving as national TCPA counsel for his clients nearly a decade ago. This perspective allows him to swiftly develop the right litigation strategies for dealing with recurring problems, without wasting time on tactics that are bound to fail. Eric’s rich historical perspective and encyclopedic knowledge of the TCPA landscape also make him an invaluable resource to institutional compliance teams struggling to comply with the shifting regulatory landscape. No task is too small – or too big. Indeed, Eric and his team have helped build TCPA-compliant systems and processes for some of the largest and most complex corporate entities in the country. He commonly works with in-house compliance counsel to build and implement enterprise and business-line specific TCPA solutions, performs TCPA audits and drafts and reviews proposed TCPA policies and procedures. He and his team also have the technical expertise necessary to assist call centers seeking to develop TCPA-resistant call path architecture or to modify existing telephony and software integration to better insulate from potential TCPA exposure. Eric has built a reputation for thought leadership. An avid blogger and speaker, he has been at the forefront of the industry’s effort to push for clarity and a return to sanity for the TCPA for years. He was selected to advocate for the financial services industry on important TCPA issues before the Federal Communications Commission and co-authored the nation’s only comprehensive practice guide on TCPA defense. In his spare time, Eric leads defense teams representing banks and other financial services companies in consumer finance litigation matters. He has experience representing clients in UCC, TILA, RESPA FCRA, CCRA, CLRA, FDCPA, RFDCPA and FCCPA claims, as well as in fraud and bank operations issues.

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  1. Pingback: Two great candidates may be coming to Troutman soon…and I can’t wait to talk about it – TCPAWorld – Law Glitz

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