Feb. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Law firms in the U.S. cut more than 700 jobs yesterday in one of the largest rounds of firings as the industry copes with a slowdown in legal work spurred by the deepening financial crisis.

DLA Piper, the world’s largest law firm with 3,700 lawyers, said it would fire 80 lawyers and 100 other workers, and Tampa, Florida-based Holland & Knight LLP dismissed 70 lawyers and 173 support staff. Others include Dechert LLP, Goodwin Procter LLP, Bryan Cave LLP, Faegre & Benson LLP and Epstein Becker & Green P.C.

“There is no place to hide,” said Bruce MacEwen, a New York-based legal consultant. “The thing that struck me about the layoffs is how unbelievably widespread they are.”

Holland & Knight’s firings, the largest of the day with 243 job cuts, are across the firm’s 21 offices, it said yesterday in a statement. The 1,100-lawyer firm will also reassign some lawyers to busier practice areas.

At DLA, yesterday’s cuts are the fourth round of downsizing at the firm since August. In December, 20 lawyers in its real estate and finance-related practices were cut, and five in the technology, media and commercial group in London were offered buyouts in August. The cuts this week in the U.K. include as many as 30 lawyers and 110 staff.

“In light of the deepening economic downturn over the last number of months, we have carefully considered and reduced expenses across virtually all of our operations,” the firm said in a statement yesterday. “While we had hoped for a rebound in economic activity, we believe that a major improvement in 2009 is increasingly unlikely.”

Goodwin Procter

Goodwin Procter, based in Boston, will cut 38 associates and 36 staff members, and St. Louis-based Bryan Cave said it will reduce its ranks by 58 lawyers and 76 staff.

Dechert will dismiss 19 salaried lawyers “primarily due to a reduction in demand that has affected most if not all of the legal industry.” Minneapolis-based Faegre & Benson will dismiss 29 lawyers in the coming months and has offered buyouts to an unspecified number of staff members, firm management committee chairman Thomas Morgan said yesterday in a statement. Epstein Becker & Green, a New York-based firm, said it would dismiss 23 attorneys and 30 staff members.

“Over the course of the past year, we implemented a number of measures to reduce our costs,” Bryan Cave Chairman Don Lents said in a memo to lawyers. “Unfortunately, the economy has continued to deteriorate.”

Memo to Lawyers

The cuts at Goodwin Procter were mostly in the business law department in Boston and New York, the firm’s largest offices, Chairwoman Regina Pisa said yesterday in a memo to lawyers. About 4 percent of associates and staff attorneys and 4 percent of paralegals, secretaries and administrative staff were dismissed.

“A number of the client areas that we serve continue to face serious challenges,” Pisa said. “We are clearly in an unprecedented economic environment. It is now apparent that this downturn will be deeper and broader than past recessions, and all business sectors will be adversely affected in some way.”

Law firms are firing associates and staff now as they close the books on their 2008 financial results and plan for the coming year, MacEwen said.

“In the course of year-end collections and planning for 2009, firms had a whole bunch of conversations with clients about what they see for 2009, and it is not pretty,” MacEwen said.

At DLA, of the 95 lawyers scheduled to join the firm this year in the U.K., an unspecified number may be asked to defer until 2010, spokeswoman Helen Obi said three days ago.

They are so-called trainee lawyers who don’t yet have formal qualifications to practice law, DLA spokesman Nicholas Breakspeare said today in an e-mail. The cuts were previously reported by Above the Law, a legal blog.

To contact the reporters on this story: Lindsay Fortado in New York at lfortado@bloomberg.net; Carlyn Kolker in New York at ckolker@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: February 13, 2009 15:52 EST