DLA Piper puts 251 in consultation across UK as firm mulls Glasgow closure
DLA Piper has put 251 staff in consultation in one of the biggest rounds of redundancies yet in the UK legal market’s recent spate of layoffs.
Tony Angel
The firm has confirmed it is considering closing its Glasgow office, its defendant insurance practice and bringing into one place its document production unit following a review of its UK operations.
It follows the hire of Tony Angel as senior partner late last year (26 October 2011), with the former Linklaters managing partner carrying a review of the UK business aimed at cutting out wastage (1 June 2012).
A DLA Piper spokesperson said in a statement: “Following a comprehensive review of our UK business designed to ensure that we are operating in a manner, in the locations, and across the practice areas that support both our strategic objectives and the needs of our clients, we have begun a period of consultation in the UK that will consider the possible closure of our Glasgow office, the closure or divestment of our defendant insurance practice and the consolidation into one location of our current multi-site document production unit.”
The consultation process puts 116 jobs at risk in document production, plus 85 employees in Glasgow and a further 50 in defendant insurance, totalling 227.51 full-time equivalent jobs.
A detailed plan of the exercise released by the firm states that the consultation in the defendant insurance, document production and Glasgow units will begin on 28 November and completed “early in the new year”.
It also highlights an “enhanced scheme that will be discussed with employee representatives” as the redundancy package and says there could be staff transfers to Edinburgh.
The plan for the defendant insurance unit is a going concern transfer, while the process in the document production unit could see employees transferred to Leeds, where the firm says vacancies will be available.
The firm said: “We are establishing a consultation forum which enables the DPU [document production unit] teams in all offices to participate in the consultation process as we believe it is fairer for all DPU teams to be extended the same privileges, irrespective of numbers.”
The exercise does not include trainees, the firm also confirmed.
The news follows a string of redundancies among leading UK firms, with Lawrence Graham (9 November 2012), Pinsent Masons (8 November 2012) and Pannone (12 November 2012) all announcing consultation rounds in the past week.
For more on Tony Angel and DLA Piper, see feature
DLA Piper’s consultation exercise in full
| | | | Heads | FTE |
| Defendant Insurance | Partners | 4 | 3.6 | |
| | Fee Earners | 27 | 24.96 | |
| Business Support | 19 | 16.39 | ||
| | Total | 50 | 44.95 | |
| | | | | |
| Document Production - Birmingham | Business Support | 11 | 10.86 | |
| Document Production - Edinburgh | Business Support | 10 | 8.68 | |
| Document Production -Glasgow | Business Support | 11 | 8.62 | |
| Document Production -Leeds | Business Support | 23 | 20.98 | |
| Document Production - Liverpool | Business Support | 13 | 11.16 | |
| Document Production -London | Business Support | 20 | 18.26 | |
| Document Production - Manchester | Business Support | 14 | 13.21 | |
| Document Production -Sheffield | Business Support | 14 | 12.34 | |
| Total | 116 | 104.11 | ||
| | | | | |
| Glasgow | Partner | 10 | 10 | |
| | Fee earners | 25 | 23.3 | |
| Business Support | 50 | 45.15 | ||
| | Total | 85 | 78.45 | |
| | Overall Total | 251 | 227.51 |
View results 10 per page | 20 per page | 50 per page |
Readers' comments (62)
Anonymous | 17-Nov-2012 6:43 am
Definitely Phase 1. Phase 2 will follow as and when the rest of the regional office leases end. Glasgow lease was up in 2014. UK will be left with London and Leeds.
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Anonymous | 18-Nov-2012 9:01 am
I just love you Brits!
Over here in the States, this sort of mass layoffs would pass by without much "consultation" (whatever that means). Welcome to Globalisation folks. The days of lifetime employment has gone the way of the British Empire.
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Anonymous | 19-Nov-2012 5:20 pm
@anonymous 9.01am. There's a saying here in the UK which goes if you can't say anything nice don't say it at all. I hope your job is safe and you don't have to worry about paying your mortgage and feeding your children, a fear which is very real for some of those affected by Mr Angel's life changing decision
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Anonymous | 20-Nov-2012 2:34 pm
Glasgow and the other regional DLA Piper offices all contain good laywers and support staff who have all helped to make the firm what it is today. There are people in each of those offices who are equal to those in the London office. The firm is run by reference to a vision and it seems that the current vision is to be an international business law firm. A large number of regional offices would seem to be inconsistent with such a vision especially when such offices are competing with each other for the same work. If the intention is to be an international business law firm, the office(s) that remain will need to be very strong performers.
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Sidewinder | 21-Nov-2012 7:13 pm
Hello my friends. It's your old mate Sidewinder here. Been away doing mergers and acquisitions - what you lot call M&A. Seems that the same old moaning is going on. You should all wake up and understand that this is a business and not some soppy club or something like that. It has to change and that is what they are doing.
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Anonymous | 21-Nov-2012 9:41 pm
Very disappointed in them. The loss of exceptionally talented DP techs for a less efficient production of quality work and more problems for non-support staff.
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Anonymous | 23-Nov-2012 9:57 am
Future trainee - here's an idea: why don't you speak to the firm and find out the position from the "horse's mouth" rather than rely on the views of random people over the internet. From the report my guess is that until there is a final resolution of matters it won't be possible to give you a definiitive answer.
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Anonymous | 23-Nov-2012 2:20 pm
Anonymous 23 Nov 2012 9.57am
For your information we have spoken to the company and yes we have no truthful answers but everyone knows its a foregone conclusion especially as there are DP Tech vacancies being advertised in nearly every agency in leeds before we have even been disposed of!!
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Anonymous | 26-Nov-2012 10:44 am
Don't the Glasgow partners fancy going out on their own? The West of Scotland DLA clients could surely do with legal advice from a more locally situated office than Edinburgh? And you'd have your pick of the exceptional staff who will be available!
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Anonymous | 28-Nov-2012 3:23 pm
"Enhanced" redundancy package.....just exactly what part of it is "enhanced".....the two months extra net pay added on to our statutory redundancy???? I'm no farmer, but I can smell manure.
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