Northern firm DWF is looking to make redundancies following the collapse of its merger talks with Cobbetts.

The merger may have been on and off more often than a light switch, but three weeks ago the firms announced that the flirtation was over, as insiders reported that a huge number of Cobbetts partners were unhappy with the deal. But the redundancies which would inevitably have followed such a merger appear to be going ahead anyway. At least for DWF.

As befits a firm which is slightly careless with its information (RollOnFriday revealed that it was in talks with Cobbetts after DWF had registered the url www.dwfcobbetts.com), the news was broken by accident. One of the firm's lawyers was spotted on a train reading a print out of an email which gave all the details and was entitled "DWF Corporate Change". Rookie mistake...

DWF yesterday

The firm didn't comment.

Meanwhile Cobbetts is pushing on in its search for another partner, with the local market buzzing that there'll be a wedding with Pannone in the near future. Neither the firm would comment.

And reports have just come in that Dundas & Wilson announced redundancies yesterday in Property Litigation and Corporate. Five are at risk in London and many more maybe facing the chop in Scotland. Sources in the Scottish market suggest the total number of redundancies will be 26. Staff have apparently also been told to use small envelopes and fold letters in a bid to save money.

A spokesman said “we can confirm that the firm has undertaken a preliminary assessment of the nature and level of demand for its services over the next few years. Following this review we have concluded that it will be necessary to reshape some practice areas to reflect the anticipated business needs. Regrettably, this process of realignment will likely lead to the loss of some positions.”