Blake Lapthorn cuts 20 jobs at end of consultation

Blake Lapthorn has laid off 20 people at the end of its second redundancy consultation.

The firm, which laid off 33 people at the end of last year, launched talks with a further 30 people in January (28 January ).

HR and administration director Alistair Gray said the firm had managed to reduce the number of layoffs in the second round thanks to, among other things, using secondments.

He said: "We originally planned for the second round of consultations, which began in January and ended last week, to affect up to 30 positions.

"However, we anticipate that the number of compulsory job losses will be closer to 20. We've achieved this through a number of factors including winning new work
and securing temporary secondments.

"A number of people have also volunteered for redundancy."

Fee earners and support staff in London and the South East have been affected by the cuts, with the real estate and corporate practices seeing the highest number of losses.