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Adopting COVID-19 Cuts, Law Firms Balance Image and Economics

Firms Are Applying Communications Lessons from the Great Recession As They Deliver Bad News During the Coronavirus Pandemic. Many firms have appeared in recent weeks to be signaling compassion, embracing (relative) transparency and sharing sacrifices across lawyers and staff. That can help make even painful cuts less harmful for a firm's internal morale and outside reputation.

5 minute read May 01, 2020 at 12:10 AM
By
Patrick Smith
Adopting COVID-19 Cuts, Law Firms Balance Image and Economics

The COVID-19 pandemic has taken the biggest industrywide toll on law firms since the Great Recession, with many of the same unfortunate hallmarks: layoffs, furloughs, compensation cuts and deferred classes. (See, "Pay Cuts, Layoffs, and More: How Law Firms Are Managing the Pandemic," The American Lawyer (April 20, 2020).

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