With impeccable festive timing, Bristol-based powerhouse Osborne Clarke is taking its London real estate department through a redundancy process and - RollOnFriday can exclusively reveal - is looking to dump five fee earners.
Osborne Clarke's revenues for the first half of this year were up 10% on the equivalent period last year, at £42.57m. So this announcement has gone down like a pint of lukewarm Vimto. Still, the firm was at its lowest point a year ago, so whilst business has picked up a bit it's still not flying. Simon Beswick, the firm's CEO, told RollOnFriday that "having spoken to our real estate clients, our current resource is out of kilter with what the market is willing to pay for. As we are trying to adapt to the market opportunities going forward, five lawyers are at risk of redundancy."
As RollOnFriday predicted recently, McGrigors wasn't going to be the only firm still struggling with the slowly-recovering economy. Expect yet more to offload staff: click here if it's happening at your shop.
EXCLUSIVE BREAKING NEWS: It's been confirmed this morning that Barlow Lyde & Gilbert have made a number of redundancies in their Corporate and Commercial team. The firm told RollOnFriday that it's to "achieve greater alignment with the firm's core sectors, including insurance and energy."
The firm won't confirm numbers, but we've heard that six associates have gone, along with seven partners who've either been booted or demoted. Support staff are also rumoured to have been canned. The firm were - of course - at pains to point out that the redundancies were entirely voluntary. Hmmm. Click here to tell us more.
EXCLUSIVE BREAKING NEWS PART II: It's also been confirmed that Hogan Lovells will be making four redundancies in its tax department. A spokesman for the firm said "We've been looking at current and expected work levels in the tax team and, unfortunately, felt that we would need to reduce the team by four to better reflect market conditions. We have begun a consultation process with the individuals involved who are at risk."
Tip Off ROF
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Ex-Osborne Clarke, BLG and Hogan Lovells' lawyers on 25 December |
Osborne Clarke's revenues for the first half of this year were up 10% on the equivalent period last year, at £42.57m. So this announcement has gone down like a pint of lukewarm Vimto. Still, the firm was at its lowest point a year ago, so whilst business has picked up a bit it's still not flying. Simon Beswick, the firm's CEO, told RollOnFriday that "having spoken to our real estate clients, our current resource is out of kilter with what the market is willing to pay for. As we are trying to adapt to the market opportunities going forward, five lawyers are at risk of redundancy."
As RollOnFriday predicted recently, McGrigors wasn't going to be the only firm still struggling with the slowly-recovering economy. Expect yet more to offload staff: click here if it's happening at your shop.
EXCLUSIVE BREAKING NEWS: It's been confirmed this morning that Barlow Lyde & Gilbert have made a number of redundancies in their Corporate and Commercial team. The firm told RollOnFriday that it's to "achieve greater alignment with the firm's core sectors, including insurance and energy."
The firm won't confirm numbers, but we've heard that six associates have gone, along with seven partners who've either been booted or demoted. Support staff are also rumoured to have been canned. The firm were - of course - at pains to point out that the redundancies were entirely voluntary. Hmmm. Click here to tell us more.
EXCLUSIVE BREAKING NEWS PART II: It's also been confirmed that Hogan Lovells will be making four redundancies in its tax department. A spokesman for the firm said "We've been looking at current and expected work levels in the tax team and, unfortunately, felt that we would need to reduce the team by four to better reflect market conditions. We have begun a consultation process with the individuals involved who are at risk."