Pinsent Masons is to close its Bristol office. Partners voted in favour of the move on Monday.
The 11 lawyers in the office are expected to be relocated. How enthusiastic they'll be at moving from Bristol to Birmingham remains to be seen: HR will be hoping they don't come to blows over it. Still, at least they're in a better position than the four support staff who may find themselves redundant.
Bristol is a busy centre for law, local firms such as Burges Salmon, Osborne Clarke, TLT and Bevan Brittan are all reporting strong work levels. And Pinsents seems to be doing reasonably well - turnover for the year ending May 2011 was up 3%. So why the closure? David Ryan, Pinsents' Managing Partner, said that "the majority of clients that we work with from our Bristol office are nationwide/international. Therefore we are taking up a break clause in the lease of our Bristol office and will close it by the end of February 2012."
Ryan confirmed that all the lawyers would be offered relocation, and "we have four support staff whose jobs are tied to the Bristol office and will be working closely with them over the coming months to assess alternative options."
Tip Off ROF
The 11 lawyers in the office are expected to be relocated. How enthusiastic they'll be at moving from Bristol to Birmingham remains to be seen: HR will be hoping they don't come to blows over it. Still, at least they're in a better position than the four support staff who may find themselves redundant.
Bristol is a busy centre for law, local firms such as Burges Salmon, Osborne Clarke, TLT and Bevan Brittan are all reporting strong work levels. And Pinsents seems to be doing reasonably well - turnover for the year ending May 2011 was up 3%. So why the closure? David Ryan, Pinsents' Managing Partner, said that "the majority of clients that we work with from our Bristol office are nationwide/international. Therefore we are taking up a break clause in the lease of our Bristol office and will close it by the end of February 2012."
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The only Bristol at Pinsent Masons is in the partners' car park |
Ryan confirmed that all the lawyers would be offered relocation, and "we have four support staff whose jobs are tied to the Bristol office and will be working closely with them over the coming months to assess alternative options."