Miller Canfield Lays Off Attorneys Amid COVID-19 Pandemic

By Kevin Penton
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Law360 (July 10, 2020, 8:52 PM EDT) -- Miller Canfield Paddock & Stone PLC has instituted layoffs and furloughs of attorneys and other employees amid the COVID-19 pandemic, according to reports.

Miller Canfield either furloughed or laid off an unspecified number of employees in June, Above the Law quoted firm CEO Michael McGee as stating.

The furloughs included two attorneys, of which one was an associate, while the "separations" impacted an attorney who was a "principal," three associates and three other "non-principals," according to McGee, who pointed to a slowdown in the automobile sector as forcing the firm's hand.

Miller Canfield officials could not be reached for comment on Friday.

The firm's layoffs and furloughs came as the legal industry appeared to rebound in June for the second straight month, following the loss of tens of thousands of jobs in April, according to U.S. Department of Labor data released in early July.

The number of jobs increased by 0.68% from May and by 1.3% since April, but are still off from a high of more than 1.1 million jobs in February, which had been the highest figure in years, based on the seasonally adjusted numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The larger category of professional and technical services, which includes the legal industry, saw a gain of 62,300 jobs in June, an increase of 0.67% from May, according to the statistics.

Reed Smith LLP, Vedder Price LLP, Dorsey & Whitney LLP, McDermott Will & Emery LLP, Goodwin Procter LLP, Norton Rose Fulbright and Nixon Peabody LLP were among the firms that confirmed during the spring that they had made personnel cuts.

--Editing by Michael Watanabe.

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