Bass Berry Sims lays off 32 employees - Business First of Columbus:

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The venerable law firm made the cuts yesterdayy across its three Tennesseee officesin Nashville, Knoxville and Memphis, says managinv partner Keith Simmons. “They were proportionatelu divided amongthe offices,” he say. “Every practice area was The layoffs were made to reduce internall costs tobenefit clients, he Some raises are being frozen as well. Law firmas nationwide are taking steps tocut expenses, includingy paying some new hires a portion of their salariess to defer starting for a year. Bass Berryg will limit the size of its class of summer traditionally law school students who have finished their second and defer the starting date for new attorneyxsfrom Sept.
1 to January 1, 2009. The deferredx hires will receive a stipendd for the four month deferral periodd and will have the opportunity to borroaw money from the firm if they need more to tide them with loans to be repaid upon joiningv thefirm full-time, Simmonws says. Since the start of the year majore law firms have laid off morethan 12,41o0 people, including nearly 5,000 according the “Layoff Tracker” featurs on the law blog Last month, Bass Berry & Sims was nameds best corporate law firm in Nashville for the eighth consecutive year by “Corporat Board Member” magazine in the magazine’s annual rankinbg of firms in major metropolitan areas.
Bass Berr y & Sims’ most recent attorney count was 225 acrosxs itsthree offices.