New Haven-based Wiggin and Dana is the latest major Connecticut firm to announce that it has trimmed lawyers, administrative assistants and support staff, according to the Connecticut Law Tribune.
Wiggin and Dana has purged 14 attorneys, reducing its total to 150 lawyers spread across five offices – in Philadelphia, New York and three locations in Connecticut, the Law Tribune reported today on its Web site.
Additionally, Wiggin and Dana announced that it trimmed 14 administrative staff and paralegals from its ranks in January.
Firm spokeswoman Elizabeth Butcher would not reveal any details about the layoffs, and managing partner Maureen Weaver declined comment. “Due to the confidential nature of these circumstances we are not releasing any specific information regarding attorney office location or practice area,” Butcher said in an e-mail.
A lawyer who remains employed in the New Haven office said the layoffs primarily hit New Haven with “some in Stamford and maybe one in New York” among practice areas that include litigation, real estate, and trusts and estates.
“Internally,” the lawyer said, “we don’t know the list” of people who lost their jobs.
The lawyer noted that “the firm has handled this in a first-class manner.”
Members of the firm’s leadership team met with the affected attorneys, staff members and practice group leaders before any announcement was made. From what the lawyer could sense, the layoffs did not generate a feeling of worry or panic.
“We were told [the layoffs were] a one-time-only thing and they were not merit-based decisions,” the lawyer said. “This was strictly related to the economy.”
