A basic strategic in coping with recession is to figure out what successful law firms did in the last recession and copy their actions. As we look at firms that used the recession when the tech bubble burst in 2000 as a growth mechanism, we find that they did engage in layoffs but they were strategic. That is, they were based on areas that were not the focus of the long-term growth of the firm, even if that meant reducing staff in offices and practices that were not as slow as areas where staff might not be cut. A survey by corporations experiencing the greatest growth since the last recession by the management consulting firm, Accenture, shows that the companies that focused their cuts on areas that didn’t impact their strategic direction fared best during recovery. For law firms, this might focus staffing reductions and cost cutting on highly competitive practice areas with declining rates.