Expensive Fire: Latham & Watkins conducted a round of layoffs last Friday that affected 190 associates and 250 staffers. The firm did, however, offer a generous six-month severance package capped at $100,000. According to The Recorder, via Law.com, the layoffs could cost Latham between $15 million and $19 million - or about 1 percent of its 2008 revenue.
Charlotte Closing: Last Friday, Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal decided to close its Charlotte, N.C. office. In a statement, firm chairman Elliott Portnoy, said the decision was caused by "local marketplace realities [and] the declining demand for legal services in the Charlotte legal and financial markets." The office was home to 11 lawyers and eight staffers according to The American Lawyer, via Law.com.
Another AIG Loan: According to The New York Times, the federal government said it would give the American International Group an additional $30 billion after the insurance giants reported a $61.7 billion loss last quarter. The government has already loaned the company $60 billion, purchased $40 billion in preferred shares, and assumed $50 billion of the company's toxic assets.
Freddie CEO Steps Down: David Moffett, the chief executive officer of Freddie Mac, has said he will resign from his top post no later than March 13, according to The Associated Press, via washingtonpost.com. Moffett, who was named CEO of Freddie in September after the government took control of the mortgage finance giant, said he wanted to return to the financial services sector.
L&W's severance IS generous, especially when one considers staffers are included in it for the same length as associates.
And as for TARP, there's a serious problem with AIG if it's having to pay out to policy holders at the rate one would infer from the amount of public money it's receiving, and people won't talk about what's going on inside of that place, but I mean they supposedly lost freaking $60Billion dollars in one quarter:
http://www.newsy.com/videos/aig_gets_another_30_000_000_000/
It must suck to work there right now.
Posted by: HMS Nerd | March 03, 2009 at 12:50 PM