Blue Monday

The great BigLaw de-leveraging of 2009 shows no sign of slowing down. Thus far today, 3 major firms, K&L Gates, Morgan Lewis, and White & Case have all announced layoffs. White & Case alone is axing 200 (!) associates. According to a source at the firm, the affected attorneys at W&C will not learn whether they are the hit list until tomorrow. This approach—making the general announcement and letting the associates fret over their fates for an extra day—seems odd, bordering on sadistic. And ATL reports today that Davis Polk has been conducting stealth layoffs since December. So the bell tolls even for a charter member of the Wall Street elite—Davis Polk is one of those lofty firms that many would consider above the grubbiness of layoffs, cutbacks and other compromises with economic reality. That category is now vanishingly small, if it even exists at all.

-posted by brian