*Latham's Black Friday

This morning's blood-letting at the L.A.-based powerhouse Latham & Watkins eclipses anything the legal industry has seen – certainly in the current recession and probably ever. Am Law Daily reports that 190 associates are being let go, or approximately 12 percent of the firm's associate base, plus 250 non-legal staff. Firm chairman Robert Dell said the depth of the recession was unprecedented. "The health of the global economy is likely to remain poor this year and so staffing levels have to be better aligned with client needs," he said. L.A. and NY (the firm's biggest biggest office) will be especially impacted (I haven't seen specific numbers). Latham has been growing aggressively over the last decade - and much of that growth involved the now-beleaguered finance and private equity practices.

The cuts come off the back of a dramatic fall in Latham's profits in 2008. Profits per equity partner dropped 21 percent from $2.27 million to $1.8 million while revenues fell 4 percent from just over $2 billion to $1.9 billion. Dell still is confident about the firm's business, but again stresses that Latham had an "over-capacity issue that we have to deal with."

All those affected are being offered severance packages of six months pay, capped at $100,000, and six months medical coverage.

*Dell tells the WSJ that the layoffs are a "one-shot" deal. "This was completely designed to address the over-capacity on a long-term basis," he said. The firm's revenue fell 4 percent last year, to $1.8 billion.