Blake Lapthorn to axe 43 staff

Blake Lapthorn is to cut up to 43 jobs in London and the South-East.

Blake Lapthorn senior partner Jonathan Lloyd-Jones said the consultation would impact “on a number of areas, ranging from business support through to our legal teams.”

"Over many months, we have taken steps to review and restructure our business in response to market conditions, so it with great regret that we now have to announce a number of job losses," Lloyd-Jones said.

The firm aims to redeploy the relevant people “wherever possible,” he added.

In July, Lloyd-Jones told The Lawyer that the firm’s regional office practices had each had some degree of exposure to the credit crisis. (The Lawyer, 21 July)

“In one sense we’ve been fortunate that both Winchester and Oxford are still reasonably strong performers in residential property,” he said. “But it’s sad to say that the Portsmouth area is more challenging and not immune to what it going on.”

The firm currently employs 795 staff, including 421 fee-earners.

The announcement takes the number of jobs under threat across the profession to more than 650.