[Ed. note: Above the Law has teamed up with Law Shucks. Law Shucks has done excellent work translating all of the layoff news into user-friendly charts and graphs: the Layoff Tracker.]

Forgive us for sounding like a broken record. There are only so many ways to say the same thing about US unemployment: the rate of new filings has slowed down, but overall unemployment continues to rise. Unfortunately, it looks like last week's brief drop was just a blip in an otherwise unbroken trend of worsening data.

That pretty much mirrors the trend at law firms - fewer layoffs but still no hiring (with one exception).

More detail, after the jump.

Usually, Detroit doesn't make the news unless something terrible is happening there.

Today is no different.

Word out of Crain's Detroit Business is that the two biggest law firms in the city are laying off lawyers and staff:

Detroit's two largest local law firms by reported revenue and number of attorneys -- Dykema Gossett P.L.L.C. and Miller Canfield Paddock and Stone plc -- together confirmed laying off 30 attorneys and 30 staff late Monday; but it was unclear how many were sent packing in Southeast Michigan.

The firms are blaming the layoffs on the economy.

"The firm has provided those who are leaving with severance benefits during this difficult time," Dykema Chairman and CEO Rex Schlaybaugh Jr. said in a statement. "This reduction is based on the economic climate."

Does anybody have any positive news to report about the Detroit economy? If so, please share in the comments. Anything positive will do, I'd settle for a story about how a local Detroit retailer is working on a streak of 100 days without having his store windows smashed in.

Dykema cuts, Miller Canfield cuts again [Crain's Detroit Business]
Dykema; Miller Canfield Layoff 60 [ABA Journal]
File Under 'Not Too Surprising': Detroit's Biggest Firms Cut Lawyers [WSJ Law Blog]

Earlier: Prior ATL coverage of law firm layoffs

[Ed. note: Above the Law has teamed up with Law Shucks. Law Shucks has done excellent work translating all of the layoff news into user-friendly charts and graphs: the Layoff Tracker.]

Let's all move to Nebraska! In a week in which unemployment was up in 48 out of 50 states (plus DC), Nebraska's unemployment dropped by 0.1%, keeping it tied with North Dakota for the lowest in the nation at 4.4% (tie goes to the state with the Championship Subdivision (formerly D-I) football program).

At the other end of the spectrum, the state with the finest football program in the nation has the highest unemployment rate: Michigan at 14.1% (Go Blue!).

Closer to home, New York's unemployment has hit 9%, the highest rate in more than a decade due to continuing deep cuts in the financial-services industry that spins off so much legal work.

After the jump, we detail the effects that has had on law firms this week.

Ed. note: Welcome to the latest installment of "Notes from the Breadline," a column by a laid-off lawyer in New York. Prior columns are collected here. You can reach Roxana St. Thomas by email (at roxanastthomas@gmail.com), follow her on Twitter, or find her on Facebook.

After my 30 Rock-induced crying jag, sleep settles over me for a few precious hours. But in the middle of the night, I wake up suddenly, feeling deeply disoriented. It takes me a moment to realize that I am at T.J.'s, in his roommate's bed, and when I do I am convinced that it is early December. I sit up, tangled in a cobweb of confusion and fighting the vaguely panicky sense that I have to do my Christmas shopping. After looking out the window, I spend a few baffled seconds wondering what happened to the blanket of snow I expected to see covering the ground.

As the fog of sleep clears, I piece together the evening and realize why I am so confused. The last time I stayed at T.J.'s was before Christmas, the weekend of a huge snowstorm. I remember waking up to find everything buried under cottony snow, the streets silent and empty. T.J. and I bundled up and, charmed by the novelty of playing mountaineer, trekked to the deli on our skis. When I close my eyes, it is December again, and I am immersed in the feeling of suspended reality, the simple pleasure of finding a familiar landscape transformed, and the childish delight of a snowy day. That was probably the last time I felt so carefree, I think sadly. That was before I lost my job.

I lie in bed, trying to hold on to the memory. Eventually, I doze off, dreaming that it is December, and that I will wake up to another snow day and the momentary relief from responsibility granted by awesome meteorological events. I will have no choice but to make snowballs and throw them at T.J., stopping only to eat dessert. Then I will go to work and bill lots of hours, and the managing partner will call me into his office to tell me to stop working so hard. "Roxana," he says in my half-dream, "when do you have time to sleep? Listen: things are a little lean right now, but we think a ginormous bonus is in order."

Unfortunately, reality intrudes on my dream. Perhaps even more unfortunately, reality seems to be adapted from of an episode of the old TV show "Land of the Lost," in which the daughter, Holly, encounters her future self while trying to save her family from fearsome lizard people. But, while Holly's future self comforts her, giving her enough courage to face the task ahead, future Roxana is decidedly cranky and unsupportive. She calls December Roxana (who is frolicking in the snow) inside, and then serves her a steaming bowl of acrid soup, which (I determine later) is an uninspired dream metaphor for disappointment. "Get used to it, Rox," she says. "There's more where that came from. And, by the way: you might want to scrap the snowman-building and focus on learning to make your own clothes." The dream dissipates. I wanted to sleep until things got better, I think irritably. Why does future Roxie have to be such a downer?

More after the jump.

Yesterday we participated in an extremely interesting panel discussion, Breaking Back into a Large Law Firm: How to Make Your Way Back into a Top Law Firm. It was part of a day-long conference, co-sponsored by the New York City Bar and Vault, entitled Getting Back in the Game: How to Restart Your Career in a Down Economy.

The panel consisted of:

BRIAN DALTON (moderator), Managing Editor, Vault.com, and Editor, Vault Guide to the Top 100 Law Firms;

JOHN J. CANNON III, Hiring Partner, Shearman & Sterling LLP;

T.J. DUANE, Principal, Lateral Link;

HELEN LONG, Director Legal Recruiting at Ropes & Gray LLP; and

DAVID LAT, Founding Editor, AboveTheLaw.com.

Write-ups of the discussion have appeared on the websites of the New York Times, Vault, and the ABA Journal. We recommend them to you.

We've also prepared our own summary of the discussion, which goes into greater detail than the other write-ups. It tackles such topics as general recommendations for the job search, when to use a recruiter (and when not to), how contract work is viewed by prospective employers, and what happens to your résumé after you send it into the cyber-ether and it arrives at a firm.

Read more, after the jump.

We reported last month that the head of U.S. litigation for Clifford Chance, Mark Kirsch, was leaving the firm's New York office -- and that layoffs in the litigation practice group were imminent. We didn't know at the time where Kirsch was heading or how many of the 29 litigation associates in the Magic Circle firm's New York office would be let go. Now we have more information.

Clifford Chance litigation partners Mark Kirsch and Mark Joel Cohen, and senior counsel Christopher Joralemon, have wound up at Gibson Dunn (which seems to be weathering the downturn better than many firms). Clifford Chance tells us the trio will be taking 7 of the firm's 29 NY litigation associates with them. Kirsch is joining GDC as co-chair of litigation, as noted in Gibson's press release.

Of the remaining 22 litigation associates, no more than 10 will be laid off this week, leaving a small litigation team in Clifford Chance's New York office. As we mentioned before, the firm's U.S. litigation will now be headed by Juan Morillo, who is in the D.C. office. In the words of one tipster:

It's tragic what the Brits have done to Rogers & Wells.

So what's the future for litigators in Clifford Chance's New York office? A tipster weighs in, after the jump.

On Friday, we reported that Cravath offered a voluntary deferral option to up to 50% of its incoming class of first year associates. People who are not yet associates can count on $80,000, health care, and loan repayment assistance from the firm in exchange for taking a year off.

Apparently, that was the last straw for associates that have been laid off from Cravath over the past several months. Tips started pouring in to Above the Law reporting stealth layoffs that have been taking place at the firm since December 2008.

Tipsters -- including sources that claim that have been laid off -- report that at least 25 people have been let go from Cravath for "performance" reasons. And sources still at the firm expect more layoffs to come this month:

Cravath Swaine & Moore has been doing stealth lay off of associates since December '08 (using performance evaluation as the excuse). Since January of 2009, they have been doing stealth lay offs more aggressively. Rumor has it that stealth layoffs of staff will be happening this month (June).

We directly asked the firm whether or not these reports were true. But to this point, the firm has declined to comment.

So if the firm has a performance reason for letting these people go, it is not sharing it with us. But regardless of why people are being let go, some laid off associates are annoyed that they are not getting the same treatment during the recession as 2008 summer associates.

I was fired. I don't know why. I don't know why I'm not getting $80,000 to wait out the terrible economy.

After the jump, sources tell us exactly what happens when you get fired from Cravath.

[Ed. note: Above the Law has teamed up with Law Shucks. Law Shucks has done excellent work translating all of the layoff news into user-friendly charts and graphs: the Layoff Tracker.]

That's it? We're looking for that one perfect week of no layoffs and we lose it to a Tennessee firm and two UK firms? So much for midsize firms being a safe harbor. The dream of a week without layoffs lives on. Instead, we'll catch up on the regular activity. The trend of initial jobless claims declining continues, with new applications down to January levels. Same old song and dance, though, as total unemployment continues to climb, setting a record for the 19th straight week.

Businesses are slowing staff reductions as signs emerge that the worst recession in at least five decades may end in the second half of 2009. Still, economists in a Bloomberg News survey predicted the unemployment rate will climb to 10 percent by year-end and restrain consumer spending, muting any recovery.

That's pretty much in line with the trend in the law-firm sector, although we might have our first green shoots. After the jump.

Last night we tuned into a very interesting (albeit somewhat depressing) conference call, Staying Competitive During an Economic Downturn, sponsored by the National LGBT Bar Association. Three experts provided their thoughts on the current legal job market and advice for navigating it:

Robert Depew. A Managing Director in Major, Lindsey & Africa's San Francisco office, Depew helps lawyers evaluate career alternatives and places attorneys at top tier law firms and select in-house positions in the Bay Area.

Christopher LaFon. As director of recruiting at Kelly Law Registry, one of the nation's largest job placement firms, LaFon builds careers and aids in career transitions for attorneys, paralegals and other legal professionals.

James Leipold. The Executive Director of the National Association for Law Placement (NALP), Leipold helms the legal profession's leading association dedicated to research, education and career development.

When will the legal economy return to normal? What can laid-off lawyers do while they wait for recovery? Is there any hope, for any of us?

Find out the views of the experts, after the jump.

I guess the summer months aren't a bar to firms laying off more associates and staff. The Nashville Post reports (subscription) that Bass Berry is going through a round of cuts:

In yet another sign that things in the economy need to get worse before they will get better, one of Nashville's premier law firms has laid off 32 employees. Bass Berry & Sims has cut 10 associate attorneys and 22 staff members from its roster. The cuts represent 5 percent of the firm's attorneys and 9 percent of non-attorney staffers. The layoffs affected the firm's Nashville, Knoxville and Memphis offices.

Layoffs at Bass Berry? This would never happen at Jack Daniels!

Bass Berry might be a small, southern firm to a lot of ATL readers, but don't forget that regional firms are dealing with all the pressures that big, coastal firms are struggling with. Often enough, those firms are coming to the same Biglaw conclusions:

Keith Simmons, managing partner of the firm, told NashvillePost.com that the decision to downsize was not made out of financial distress. "We are being asked to do more by our clients with less. This is an effort to get our cost structure in line with the market," he said. "Big firms are going to have to look at their structure. We are staying close to the needs of our clients."

A tipster called today's move a "Bassacre"

Good luck, our Tennessee friends. I've been playing a solemn version of Rocky Top while writing this post.

Bass Berry lays off 32 [Nashville Post] (subscription)

Ed. note: Welcome to the latest installment of "Notes from the Breadline," a column by a laid-off lawyer in New York. Prior columns are collected here. You can reach Roxana St. Thomas by email (at roxanastthomas@gmail.com), follow her on Twitter, or find her on Facebook.

It is spring, but the weather has turned cold again. My short-lived job is over; my short-lived relationship is over. One flat, grey day follows another. I am beginning to wonder whether my career is over, too.

A few days after Elisa cuts us loose, Olivia finally returns the phone call I made to ask her whether she had another assignment for me. "Roxanna, hiiii," she coos breathily. She sounds surprised to find me at home.

"I guess the project ended early," she says, her voice dripping with faux sympathy. "Soooorrry." I wonder if she has practiced using this tone to comfort children who have failed to make the spelling bee finals. Or puppies, I think, half-expecting her next words to be, "who's a good girl? You are! Yes, you are!" But she switches gears seamlessly, her voice brightening. "Well," she chirps, "it's probably nice to put your feet up after all that hard work, isn't it?"

"Yeah," I hear myself say flatly. "I worked like ... a dog."

"Then you definitely need a little break!" she effuses, sounding relieved. "Did you have a good experience, though? The people over at the Big Law firm are just great, aren't they?"

I hold the phone out from my ear, wondering whether the caller I.D. will identify Olivia's location as Bizarro World. In Bizarro World, "great" and "insufferable bitch" must be interchangeable terms. "It was really interesting," I tell her, trying to sound upbeat. "In fact, I don't even need a break. I'm ready to get right back on the horse!"

"Ohhh," she says, as though I have asked her to lend me money. She tells me that she may have another "potential" project coming up, and has some "really interesting and exciting possible opportunities" for contract work. There is silence while, I assume, she pretends to look for exciting possible opportunities on her computer. For all I know she is scrolling through Craigslist or Law.com. I have an urge to ask her whether my friend, the troll, has found an exciting possible opportunity. Finally, I tell her to take her time looking and call me if anything comes up.

I need to do some errands, but the task of showering and getting dressed suddenly seems insurmountable. But why bother with proper attire when you have a long down coat? I think, and put it on over the ratty t-shirt and sweatpants I'm wearing. I glance at my disheveled hair in the mirror and decide that God made hats for many reasons (only one of which is cold weather), and that he probably also made Crocs for the members of his flock who are too unmotivated to look for their shoes. My outfit complete, I strike out.

Follow my adventures, after the jump.

Above The Law used to be a place for perk-watching. Bonus wars! Pay raise watches! Perk craziness! Extending the length of maternity and paternity leaves!

As the economy has taken its toll on the legal industry, our coverage here has taken some dark turns. The layoff watch. The salary freeze watch. The delayed start date watch. The shrinking summer associate programs.

The New York Times has been reading. This weekend, they ran a piece proclaiming the end of Biglaw as we know it, entitled A Study in Why Major Law Firms Are Shrinking:

As the apocalypse on Wall Street ripples out into the larger economy, a thick red tide is lapping at the once-impregnable foundations of New York's corporate law firms, threatening to turn the industry -- and with it, some iconic city characters -- into an endangered species.

White & Case offered itself up to the sacrificial altar for the piece, with chairman Hugh Verrier telling the tale of the firm's troubles. White & Case has laid off over 200 associates, with the bulk of them let go on March 9, a day we called "bloody, black March Monday," as the layoff announcements came rolling in from so many firms on that day. But the firm stands virtually alone in this NYT piece and will now be known as THE firm representing the downfall of Biglaw.

Why was Verrier willing to lay White & Case on the altar? In talking about the layoffs of associates and partners at the firm, he told the NYT:

Mr. Verrier said he saw the storm approaching shortly after he took control in 2007, and considered three options, in consultation with a group of core partners: Do nothing, which risked the firm's survival; couch layoffs as decisions based on poor performance; or own up to the crisis and bid large numbers of lawyers a harsh but needed goodbye.

His choice to confront the situation directly, while lauded by many on the staff, carried the risk of seeming weak, of becoming the poster child for the industry's demise. But he saw it as opening a window for White & Case to eventually reposition itself.

Perhaps this is his hope with the NYT article as well. Insight into the demise of Biglaw using White & Case as the poster child, after the jump.

The scene at the Harvard University graduation ceremonies -- the law students are the ones holding the signs:

The American economy: set to ruin hopes and dreams one person at a time.

In fairness, I believe this picture has more to do with law students protesting Harvard's layoffs of various staffers around the university, not the dismal economy all lawyers are facing.

Earlier: Nationwide Layoff Watch: Harvard Law School (Or: Welcome to the End Times)

[Ed. note: Above the Law has teamed up with Law Shucks. Law Shucks has done excellent work translating all of the layoff news into user-friendly charts and graphs: the Layoff Tracker.]

In perhaps an overabundance of exuberance for even the faintest glimmer of good news, media are celebrating the May unemployment report. The 345,000 jobs lost for the month was half the average monthly decline for the preceding six months (and far better than expected), although unemployment was up to 9.4%. Much of the early giddiness ignored that second part, so despite some volatility, the markets ended the day basically flat. According to the report,

Job losses in professional and business services moderated in May, with the industry shedding 51,000 jobs. This compares with an average loss of 136,000 jobs per month in the prior 6 months.

More specifically, in the legal sector, just 1,300 jobs were lost in the month - from 1.141 million in the sector in April to 1.1397 in May.

We've chartified the trend for the visual learners, after the jump.

Many have noted that the jobless rate hit 9.4% today, and many are calling that excellent news. Bloomberg reports:

The U.S. lost fewer jobs than forecast in May, reinforcing signs that the deepest recession in half a century is starting to abate....

"The recession is very close to an end," said Nariman Behravesh, chief economist at IHS Global Insight in Lexington, Massachusetts, whose payrolls forecast matched the closest estimate in a Bloomberg News survey. "The labor market is still pretty awful, but vastly better than it was."

Did anybody else just hear Kevin Bacon screaming "all is well"?

But maybe the new numbers are positive. The L.A. Times tells us about the happy experiences of the "funemployed":

Michael Van Gorkom was laid off by Yahoo in late April. He didn't panic. He didn't rush off to a therapist. Instead, the 33-year-old Santa Monica resident discovered that being jobless "kind of settled nicely." ...

What most people would call unemployment, Van Gorkom embraced as "funemployment."

While millions of Americans struggle to find work as they face foreclosures and bankruptcy, others have found a silver lining in the economic meltdown. These happily jobless tend to be single and in their 20s and 30s. Some were laid off. Some quit voluntarily, lured by generous buyouts.

Not to have a type A meltdown, but what the hell are these people talking about?

I call shenanigans, after the jump.

Last Friday, we reported that McDermott Will & Emery had cut the salaries of summer associates. At the time, we said:

Good luck, summers -- and good luck MWE junior associates. We hope the writing isn't on the wall.

Unfortunately, the words of the prophets were written on the subway walls and tenement halls. And we're not talking about salary cuts.

Above the Law is now able to confirm the the firm has laid off 72 people: 25 associates and 47 staff. The firm wide memo just went out:

I want all of you to know that today we are conducting a reduction in force that will affect 25 attorneys and 47 staff members. This difficult decision results from a careful review of the current and projected needs of our clients. While we are seeing signs of recovery in some practice areas, demand for transactional-related services continues to lag. As we ride out this difficult business cycle, I want to remind you that we remain a strong Firm. Our international asset base of talent and clients and our strong balance sheet will position us well when the economy rebounds.

More details after the jump.

Ed. note: Welcome to the latest installment of "Notes from the Breadline," a column by a laid-off lawyer in New York. Prior columns are collected here. You can reach Roxana St. Thomas by email (at roxanastthomas@gmail.com), follow her on Twitter, or find her on Facebook.

I am sitting in the war room, trying to guess what time of day it is and what the weather is like. Have I been here for an hour, or is it closer to lunchtime, and a brief respite from the monotony of document review? Is it a beautiful day outside, or is it dark and rainy? There are no windows in the room, so these details can be elusive. I will myself not to look at the clock, anticipating the pang of disappointment that comes with knowing just how many hours lie ahead. A moment later, I give in: 10:30. I sigh and turn back to my computer.

A week into the document review, my days have taken on a deadening sameness. I go to the office. I plow through documents. Ben Gay applies healing ointments to his joints; Mr. Potato Head samples from each of the major food groups. At some point, Elisa comes in to verbally abuse one or more of us. When she leaves, no one can get back to work until the nature of her bitchiness and the ridiculousness of her review protocol have been thoroughly deconstructed. These sessions seem almost necessary, a way to cleanse the collective palate of something bitter and distasteful.

They are also, sadly, the moments when the occupants of our forgotten room seem most alive, and when I catch flickering glimpses of the lawyers many of them are, or have been. In the process of discrediting Elisa and her somewhat arbitrary choices, the reviewers defend their judgment calls, piece together strategic arguments, and display a practical command of litigation that seems far greater than that of our young overseer. Still, these attempts at legal discourse invariably remind me of law school, when people immerse themselves in the painfully earnest discussion of substantive issues, with no sense for how ultimately unimportant their opinions are.

I try to remind myself that this is work, and -- while far from ideal -- it is better than the alternative ... or at least more lucrative. But it's hard for me not to think about document reviews I did as an associate. Although they could be tedious or frustrating (or tedious and frustrating), they often felt more like a blitzkrieg than a prolonged occupation. It was different when I was immersed in a case, faced with a deadline, and anxious to see what the documents would reveal; I remember the purposefulness of turning my attention to the task at hand, the measurable sense of progress, and the feeling of dorky satisfaction that came from seeing the pieces of the puzzle fall into place.

This assignment has none of those features. Elisa has given us almost no background information; without a feel for the context of the case, I spend an inordinate amount of time worrying about whether I've missed some crucial nuance. I can recognize names, but I still have no sense of the people they belong to. And while I -- like many lawyers -- have indulged in the fantastic notion that my hours of scut work will pay off with a Perry Mason moment, I don't even know enough about the case to picture the eventual cross or deposition during which the important documents will be brandished at a blanching witness.

More after the jump.

Here on Above the Law, we have extensively covered layoffs caused by the shrinking economy. We've also covered stealth layoffs. And we've covered performance review layoffs that have been done out in the open.

But at WilmerHale it looks like we are seeing an example of: economically induced performance reviews resulting in stealth messages that requires people to openly leave the firm.

Say that ten times fast.

A tipster reports:

I know of [several] associates and counsel that have been laid off at Wilmer in the past week. Many of the associates are 2-4 years, but the lay-offs reach up to the 6 year level. All of them were let go for "performance" reasons - but everyone that I've talked to has had nearly perfect evaluations....

The not so subtle indication we are getting from the firm is to tread lightly - find something else and leave quietly, and if [people] do that, they will get help, resources, support and references. I imagine the flipside of that is [squeaky wheels] will get a performance based dismissal to hang over their heads. ... People are just too scared to say anything in this economy. Of course, there is always the shame of thinking you've been let go for "performance" reasons that will keep people quiet as well.

As we understand it, these cuts have taken place in Washington D.C. and Boston.

After the jump, WilmerHale tells us that there have been no "layoffs."

More evidence of deflation in the legal market comes from Philadelphia. Last week, Ballard Spahr decided to cut associate salaries. Tipsters report that the average cut is 14%, but each individual salary cut is based on class year and other factors. According to one source:

Ballard Spahr cut associate salaries firmwide between approximately $19,000 and $30,000 per year (senior associates being cut more both on a percentage basis and actual dollar basis than junior associates) effective June 16.

The firm would not confirm or deny these reports. Instead a firm spokesperson told Above the Law:

The firm considers compensation a personnel issue. And corporate policy is not to discuss personnel issues with the press.

More details, and an update, after the jump.

[Ed. note: Above the Law has teamed up with Law Shucks. Law Shucks has done excellent work translating all of the layoff news into user-friendly charts and graphs: the Layoff Tracker.]

Alright, this is getting ridiculous. Last week, no real layoffs until Ropes & Gray got busted doing stealth layoffs at 11:00 on Friday morning. This column closes Friday afternoon, usually. We actually submitted yet another version celebrating the first week of the year without layoffs. Then Weil Gotshal went and laid off 79 staff. We'll have to save the celebration for next week (hopefully - although we're planning to be on the golf course, not writing).

So back to the usual roundup.

As in the general US market, the rate of law-firm layoffs (or first-time benefit applications) continues to drop, even though unemployment numbers continue to rise. So most of the cutting may be behind us, even if the growth and hiring haven't kicked in yet. Still, this recession is far and away the worst of the past 40 years, from a jobs perspective. Check out Clusterstock for interesting chart that shows employment levels are continuing to decline 15 months after the current recession began, a point by which the 1980 recession had completely reversed its losses, 1974-76 was almost back to pre-recession levels, and the others had at least flattened out if not started trending upwards. Elie will continue to monitor Latvian hookers for signs of life. In the economy.

After the jump, there were a few other near-layoffs this week and the usual non-layoff cost-cutting measures.