@ 5:38 - I laughed so hard I almost peed my pants. Thanks! -- ET!

7:17(1) is spot on about the hiring/firing dynamic. Thanks for spelling it out so clearly.

We really DON'T know what happened here. For example, she could have bolloxed up a major project. Some mistakes are one-offs. But I also lived through the era of stealth layoffs, too. Stealth layoffs are unfair and shortsighted - except for SF/LA/NY and maybe Chicago, legal markets can be tight-knit and stories get told. And, that associate you fired might actually become a referral source if you treat him/her with respect. Crazy? I've seen it happen first-hand.

But crediting her story, gawdalmighty that was a crappy thing to do. A question to the PH folks reading this: Is the SF MP really so clueless as to sign off on this? Or was this a rogue department head with a personality conflict? Either way, it was handled abysmally.

-- ET!

@7:41 here - you've got a couple of years on me (my shop has a different seniority scale, but I'm still an EP) and all I can say is... wow. Just, wow.

You're ¶1 is right. But your ¶2 is just way out there. First, if you're losing money on mid-level associates billing 1800 hrs., your realization ratios are all screwed up. First years, maybe, but not your 3-7 yrs.

You're right that $160k doesn't buy a lot of family values.

But while your final proposition may true as an abstract concept, that's not how firms REALLY handle it. At least the good ones... Only the most short-sighted of shops are as callous as you portray (Jones Day, anyone?).

No matter what, you fire associates gently unless the kid's farked up spectacularly, doesn't get it, and you want to send a message. You also make a couple of phone calls to see if a second-tier firm can hire them. As for our author, I'd keep her for a month or two, let her go gently (and tell her the goddamn truth, that it's economic + a factor of her being the slowest gazelle in the herd). Then you'd have a person who doesn't want to motherfark your firm.

-- ET!

Great points, 9:44(1) and 10:04! It might just be my intense dislike of fraternities, but I'm hoping they get clobbered.

-- ET!