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Law360 (October 7, 2020, 6:05 PM EDT) -- Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP said Wednesday that it will fully reverse COVID-19 salary cuts for attorneys and staff, citing better-than-expected performance during the pandemic and indicating that the firm plans to expand.
The firm, which began easing the cuts in August, said that it had out-performed projections set earlier in the year and had chosen to end the cuts this month, rather than wait until the end of the year as scheduled.
Bryan Cave also announced a new program to foster firm growth. Dubbed "Project Advance," the program will improve operational infrastructure in order to support expansion, particularly in real estate, litigation and investigations and in its newly combined corporate and finance practices.
"We have never been more energized and excited about the future of BCLP as we continue to build momentum for the long term around what we view as our core engines for growth," Bryan Cave Co-Chairs Lisa Mayhew and Steve Baumer said in a joint statement.
The firm also announced that it had filled three new leadership roles for each of these practice areas, with Chris de Pury becoming a global development leader for real estate, Stephanie Hosler becoming a global development leader for corporate and finance, and Lee Marshall moving to be global development leader for litigation and investigations.
The firm has also created a new chief transformation officer position, to be filled by corporate partner Sean Odendahl, to oversee growth.
Bryan Cave first announced cuts in response to COVID-19 in April, with the reductions taking effect in May. The firm trimmed salaries by 15% for all employees making over $40,000 a year and deferred an unspecified portion of partner withdrawals, cuts in line with the sort of measures taken across the legal industry.
Over the summer, the firm announced it would be laying off "a small number" of staff, while simultaneously rolling back salary cuts from 15% to 7.5%.
--Editing by Michael Watanabe.
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