An insider at Brethertons Solicitors has told RollOnFriday that the firm has made over 35 staff redundant.

The source said that the Midlands-based firm had just made the redundancies. The firm refused to give any comment, so the numbers may differ from this - if you're at the firm and have been affected, do get in touch.

In March RollOnFriday was told that Brethertons had asked all employees to take a 15% pay cut. Again, the firm refused to comment.

Other firms have announced in recent months that they will be making redundancies in response to the impact of Covid-19. In June, Reed Smith confirmed to RollOnFriday that "a group of fewer than 20 lawyers" would be made redundant in London (roughly 5% of the London office's 350 lawyers), and also fewer than 10 other staff.  Sandy Thomas, the firm's global managing partner, said at the time that it had "made the difficult decision" to ensure the "business emerges from the pandemic in a position of strength".

US firm Dorsey & Whitney has also made job cuts. Tim Maloney, head of the firm's London office, confirmed to RollOnFriday in June that there would be a "reduction in the firm's workforce" in order to "address the financial impacts of the coronavirus pandemic."

Fladgate also embarked on a redundancy process in June, although it has also been claimed that the firm dismissed lawyers on their probationary period prior to that.

With the government's furlough scheme coming to an end in October, it remains to be seen whether other firms make job cuts in the coming months. 

 

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Comments

Anonymous 07 August 20 18:42

This caps off a torrid few years for the firm who have undergone profound internal changes which led to many staff becoming disillusioned with the management.  There has been a torrent of partners and many other staff members leaving the firm prior to the recent redundancies.  

Anonymous 12 August 20 15:48

US firms never seem to bother with formal redundancy. It's more like "how much do you want to take a sabbatical and not return?"

Brethertons Survivor 13 August 20 13:08

I joined Brethertons after the internal changes (mentioned by the commenter above) had taken place.

It was clear that they hadn’t been a success, but the partners seemed wilfully blind to this, and determined to stay on the path they’d chosen.

Brethertons stuck in the dark ages as far as case management systems, paperless filing concerned. There was also a serious problem with bullying of some junior staff members.

Despite this, management always seemed very pleased with themselves.

It was a miserable place to work and I got out of there as fast as I could.

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