Last week's revelation that a partner at Matheson Ormsby Prentice is suing her own firm has prompted insiders to disclose the extent of the problems at the top Irish outfit.

RollOnFriday has been told that whilst some 15 people have been made formally redundant since October, others have been quietly asked to leave. An insider said that fee earners had been approached on Friday afternoons, "tapped on the shoulder and asked to clear their desks over the weekend". The reason given for this is that the lawyers have failed to hit their targets, but as one assistant reports, "in most cases they had been isolated from any new matters, so making targets would be impossible".

Other reports are that trainees who were interviewed for NQ positions, after being told that there would be plenty of jobs, have either been let go or put into departments for which they hadn't applied. And rumours are circulating that the rent free period on the firm's snazzy new offices has run out, and the partners are now faced with a whopping bill negotiated at the top of the market.

The firm failed to respond to requests for comment.