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12 ¦ OCTOBER 26, 2020 NEWS

¦ From ADJUSTING on PAGE 11 Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner
On Oct. 8, the firm said it will cut 50 staff firmwide Bryan Cave cut lawyer and staff positions across
effective Oct. 15, citing “the fundamental workplace the globe this summer. While the firm would not
shift created by the pandemic.” confirm the number of layoffs globally, one person
with knowledge of the process said 40 people in Lon-
don, including 14 fee earners and 26 business services
Baker Donelson
Tim Lupinacci, the chairman and CEO of Baker staff, were impacted, Law.com International reported.
Donelson, said the firm implemented 20% across- As of July 15, the firm is keeping pay cuts for em-
the-board pay cuts in April but has started to bring ployees and lawyers earning over $40,000 a year
staffers’ and lawyers’ salaries back to pre-COVID across all of the firm’s offices, but lowering the re-
levels, including mid-year raises. After moves in duced pay to a 7.5% reduction, compared to the
September and October, lower-paid staff will have initial 15% cut it introduced in May for an initial 13-
returned to full pay, with higher-paid staff earning week period.
95% of their salaries. Employees also received an- On Oct. 7, the firm said it had cut 4% of its glob-
nual raises on time. al workforce. The move came after a review of the
Among lawyers, he said, as of Oct. 1, 70% will be business, which started in late 2019.
receiving 95% of their salaries based on their billable
hours or revenue brought in, with the remainder Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft
receiving only 85% of their compensation. “We rec- Cadwalader reversed temporary compensation
ognize the challenge” to lawyers working for clients reductions ranging from 10% to 25% for attorneys
that have been hard-hit, but he added, “it made and staff, effective Aug. 1. The firm had said when
sense” to tie restorations to performance. announcing the pay cuts that it hoped to reinstate
normal compensation after four months. Partner
distributions also returned to normal.
Baker McKenzie
Baker McKenzie said Sept. 1 it was “reducing
the size of its workforce” in the United States, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton
Canada and Mexico and the “reduction includes After Above the Law reported Sept. 8 that the
lawyers, other timekeepers and business profes- firm laid off some staff members in the prior week,
sionals.” The firm did not say how many people in the international firm did not deny the layoffs. In a
all were laid off. statement, a firm spokeswoman said: “Following a
Looking forward, Baker McKenzie added, the comprehensive review begun early last year, we have
firm’s current salary reductions announced ear- restructured some operations to align our business
lier this year in the U.S. and Canada will end Dec. functions with the needs of our lawyers and our
31. Baker McKenzie had announced in April that clients. These changes reflect long-term trends in
it was reducing salaries for all non-partner attor- the legal market and have been made with careful
neys, other timekeepers and business professionals thought and consideration for those directly affect-
by 15% in the United States, except for those earn- ed by this transition.”
ing less than $100,000. The firm said partners also
saw pay cuts. Canadian attorneys, timekeepers Cozen O’Connor
and business professionals saw a 10% reduction in As of July 1, the firm is once again paying partners
salary. fully, firm executive chairman and CEO Michael
Heller said in a July email.
Cozen in April and May asked partners to defer
Blank Rome
Managing partner Grant Palmer said Oct. 16 that between 10% and 20% of their compensation to the
the firm had restored salaries to their normal level end of the year and furloughed nearly 10% of its ad-
earlier in the month. ministrative staff.

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