DWF is to make up to 37 lawyers and support staff redundant.
All the jobs will be lost from the fraud and motor teams in the firm's Liverpool office. DWF, which has not yet launched the consultation, has informed staff it is part of a restructuring.
Managing Partner Andrew Leaitherland blamed Legal Aid reforms, which he said meant firms specialising in insurance "are experiencing a decline in motor fraud litigation instructions". Whiplash, faked or real, isn't what it used to be. In January Keoghs put 41 jobs in its personal injury team at risk of redundancy, last year Lyons Davidson slashed 80 PI roles and in November Walker Morris shuttered its PI arm after the strategy of renaming it Distinctly Legal and going "direct to market" (cold calling) failed to reverse its fortunes.
The firm has been streamlining after buying up struggling PI rivals: in January it placed 21 finance staff who operated their legacy firms' IT systems in a redundancy consultation. Leaitherland said fewer support staff were needed because DWF has "been able to improve [its] efficiency through centralising activities and investment in IT".
Leaitherland also said the firm would try to find alternative roles for those affected or, if that proves impossible, provide CV and interview training to help them secure a job elsewhere. Even so, it will be a bitter pill for the Liverpool office to swallow. Revenues at the firm are soaring and, as one insider noted, DWF has just announced that its 305-strong London team are being moved to "plush" new offices at the Walkie Talkie tower (which, in a case of too little too late for the Liverpool's motor claims team, melted a car by reflecting the sun's rays onto it last year).
Tip Off ROF
All the jobs will be lost from the fraud and motor teams in the firm's Liverpool office. DWF, which has not yet launched the consultation, has informed staff it is part of a restructuring.
Managing Partner Andrew Leaitherland blamed Legal Aid reforms, which he said meant firms specialising in insurance "are experiencing a decline in motor fraud litigation instructions". Whiplash, faked or real, isn't what it used to be. In January Keoghs put 41 jobs in its personal injury team at risk of redundancy, last year Lyons Davidson slashed 80 PI roles and in November Walker Morris shuttered its PI arm after the strategy of renaming it Distinctly Legal and going "direct to market" (cold calling) failed to reverse its fortunes.
There's only one way things could get worse for PI lawyers |
The firm has been streamlining after buying up struggling PI rivals: in January it placed 21 finance staff who operated their legacy firms' IT systems in a redundancy consultation. Leaitherland said fewer support staff were needed because DWF has "been able to improve [its] efficiency through centralising activities and investment in IT".
Leaitherland also said the firm would try to find alternative roles for those affected or, if that proves impossible, provide CV and interview training to help them secure a job elsewhere. Even so, it will be a bitter pill for the Liverpool office to swallow. Revenues at the firm are soaring and, as one insider noted, DWF has just announced that its 305-strong London team are being moved to "plush" new offices at the Walkie Talkie tower (which, in a case of too little too late for the Liverpool's motor claims team, melted a car by reflecting the sun's rays onto it last year).
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