The 2022 Tech Layoffs & California Law Firm Hiring

December 11, 2022 | Delia Swan

How much will the California tech lay-offs affect law firms?

To date, we've seen two firms openly admit lay-offs of staff and attorneys.  We believe there are "sleuth" lay-offs occurring, behind the scenes.  They are affecting excellent practitioners whose practice group simply is not keeping busy, and they are affecting associates who may not quite meet the expectations of management.  It could be that management will take advantage of the "moment" to clean house a bit.

 We believe there will not be upheaval like we saw in 2009. While there are parallel factors (tech sector lay-offs), other aspects of the economy remain strong, and most businesses are staying afloat, able to weather a downturn (which was not the case before).

The tech cuts are very real –telecommunication companies were hit the hardest, followed by the computer industry.  In 2009 and again in 2014, we saw a similar high level of layoffs, and of course in 2001, close to 700,000 jobs were cut when the tech bubble in the stock market burst. 

…and yet…in drilling down into our clients’ hiring needs, we are seeing absolutely no slow down in hiring.  We have plenty of new opportunities in corporate as well as attorney jobs in other practice areas.  This information leads us to believe that these tech layoffs are not going to significantly impact the legal hiring market much at all.  We remain very optimistic about 2023 and stand ready to deliver to our law firm clients the best candidates 

— Delia Swan