State's largest law firm cuts 55 jobs

by Elizabeth Baier, Minnesota Public Radio

The state's largest law firm on Tuesday eliminated 55 administrative positions, or about 4 percent of its staff, a firm spokesman confirmed.

St. Paul, Minn. — Dorsey Whitney cut 38 positions from its office in Minneapolis, where the firm is based, as a result of the tight economy, according to spokesperson Bob Kleiber.

The remaining positions were scattered across six of the firm's 19 offices around the country, including Palo Alto, Denver, Salt Lake City, New York, London and Seattle.

"We took a number of steps to bring our expenses in line with the realities of the demand for legal services right now, which clearly have been impacted, just like everything else has, by the economy," Kleiber said.

Kleiber couldn't say whether the firm would have further reductions in coming months.

"There's no way to know," he said. "We certainly aren't expecting any. You don't want to dribble these kinds of things out. We certainly are taking the steps we think are necessary with what we know today."