To gts109’s point, yeah, it is often difficult to distinguish performance layoffs to “stealth” layoffs. A significant part of the reason is that minimum performance standards rise when firm business tubes. And it should. If there’s a dearth of work, I’d rather give a first year who hasn’t shined yet another shot at what business might be there than some stranger who might skank through with an offer at a busier time. And, trust me, unless there’s an overload of work, 90% of summers aren’t really worth an offer.
(I’m a partner at a big-law firm that gave offers to 100% of summers – we closely managed the number of summer offers given – and don’t work at any of the firms named in the article or comments. So, preemptively fuck off with the troll comments).
