The National Law Journal reports that Brown Rudnick is shelving deferred start dates for 11 first-year associates, saying it needs to tackle a surge in bankruptcy and litigation work.

Under the plan, first reported by the Boston Business Journal, the firm will have the associates start on Sept. 14 instead of Nov. 30.

The original class included 27 first-years. Three will remain deferred until Nov. 30. Another dozen remain deferred until 2010. One more has taken a job in Singapore, said firm CEO Joe Ryan, who is also a senior partner in the firm's bankruptcy & finance practice group.

"The good news is since we made that decision [to defer] we've become very busy and it certainly looks like that's going to be sustained," Ryan said.