Berryman lays off 12; Berrymans hiring 12

Nottingham firm Berryman has made several redundancies.

It is understood that 12 have lost their jobs in total, although the firm has not yet confirmed specific numbers.

Chairman Richard Brackenbury said: “The pressures on businesses throughout the UK caused by the current economic downturn are obvious. For any business, the basic task is keeping profit at an appropriate level, whilst balancing the expense of running a business against income.

“After a very careful review and long deliberations, we regret that we had to make a number of redundancies.

“Announcing redundancies is not an easy option but the partners recognised that we had to ensure ongoing commercial success in an increasingly competitive market and what are difficult economic conditions.”

The firm, which is focused on commercial work, had a total of 135 staff last year and a turnover of £6.2m.

Meanwhile national firm Berrymans Lace Mawer, known as Berrymans, is on a recruitment drive.

A partner at the firm, which specialises in contentious insurance, told The Lawyer: “We had our recruitment board up on Friday, it said that we are looking to fill 12 jobs. We had our national partner meeting on Monday and the mood was extremely upbeat.”

He added: “Defendant Personal Injury work is growing. It won’t be a boom but it will be steady growth.”

The firm has a profit margin of 20 per cent, an annual turnover of £51.9m and a total of 1,079 staff.