Clifford Chance to cut 115 London support staff jobs
Clifford Chance to cut 115 London support staff jobs" class="inline_image inline_image_left" src="/pictures/web/images/16549_cc-london90.jpg" />Clifford Chance is looking to lay off up to 115 business services staff in London after a review of its support staff needs.
The firm currently has around 1,200 business services staff based in London, with the number including all employees other than fee earners and IT staff.
The firm’s director of global business services Amanda Burton said of the cuts: “We have the most professional business services function in the sector and I’m immensely proud of our contribution to the firm, so this has been a difficult decision.
“However, we need to take steps to ensure that the level of resource within the firm is appropriate for our business needs.”
The firm is envisaging making between 105 and 115 business support staff redundant.
A spokesperson said that Clifford Chance’s overseas offices would “continue to review their resources in light of economic conditions”.
The decision to make further London job cuts is the result of a review that began in January when the firm put all its London fee-earners into consultation in an effort to reduce lawyer headcount by 80 (8 January). Last month Clifford Chance announced that it would also look to dramatically scale back its partnership (4 February).
IT staff have been subject to separate consultations in connection with Clifford Chance’s global shared service centre (GSSC) offshoring programme. The firm has been looking at IT staffing levels for the past two years after it offshored some of its IT function to India as part of a cost-cutting drive (4 June 2007).
Clifford Chance is one of three magic circle firms looking to restructure as a result of the recession. Allen & Overy (A&O) is looking to shrink its headcount across all areas with the intention of shrinking its global support staff numbers by 9 per cent (19 February).
At Linklaters between 100 and 120 City lawyers will lose their jobs as part of the firm’s so-called New World strategy, while 130 to 150 members of business services staff will also be affected.
Linklaters is seeking to drastically overhaul its structure in a bid to become a smaller, more profitable operation (29 January).
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer remains the only magic circle firm not to announce widespread redundancies.
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Readers' comments (13)
M | 5-Mar-2009 6:46 am
Amazing
It takes a really special kind of pikey to earn GBP200k a year, drive a Jaguar, and yet wear TM Lewin suits. Reading that made me shiver. Whoever that refers to, my god, that's shameful.
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Anonymous | 6-Mar-2009 5:48 pm
Perception
It's a truism that partners really couldn't care less for the parts of a support function that they don't see. And for the support function of any large modern day law firm that's a heck of a lot of headcount slumped beneath the radar.
And I use the word slumped advisedly. Having worked in the finance department of a major law firm I was amazed how obtuse partner perceptions were regarding their non-fee earning members of staff. All support staff were graded on an alpha-beta-gamma-epsilon-bravo-foxtrot-omega plus-optimus prime-type scale that wouldn't look out of place at Crufts; annual performance was scored on a clumsy marks out of ten basis, a score which seemed completely arbitrary as one was deemed to perform only as well as one was personally liked by the head of department; and promotions were excruciatingly rare indeed, most top jobs being filled by external applicants from banks.
Now, if I'd been a qualified lawyer and I'd kept my head down, worked the hours, done all the basic things right etc I'd have received annual re-grading based on my years of experience, I would have had a defined career path towards partnership and I'd be getting paid at least double or treble the salary of most non-fee earners.
Also, as a fee-earning lawyer I too would probably have made the odd glib comment as to how lazy and unmoitivated most of the support staff were (our fee-'burners', ha ha); I too would have owned the uniquely rational position that the commoditisation of legal advice was something to be fought off with one hand, whilst encouraging legal support services commoditisation with the other; I might even have wondered why there were so many glum faces in support when their various heads of department reported nothing but success in the firmwide glossy.
It's all about false perception. Support staff are not lazy, they're not stupid and they do have the occasional shower every now and then. Like lawyers, they too are motivated by the prospect of financial advancement, they too are encouraged when their excellence is met with the words 'well' and 'done' and the real prospect of promotion; they too feel appreciated when their advice is listened to and taken seriously - no, they don't understand the difference between going to Common Law and Equity but their wealth of experience means they know other important things about the professional world, (things that even lawyers really should want to know about) - and try swallowing this morsel of excrutiatingly sentimental truth: support staff too suffer the basic human need to feel genuinely wanted in the workplace. I used my feet and left to join a plc where professional self esteem is maintained more through commitment, cleverness and industry than sycophantic ego massage.
And if you think sycophancy doesn't warp perceptions of the support service function you're just plain wrong. My thoughts are with everyone whose job is on the line at the moment, and to all those who have already been made redundant I wish you all a speedy and happy return to work.
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