Hammonds promises layoffs are a ‘one-off’
Hammonds chief Peter Crossley has vowed that there will be no more redundancies at the firm once the current consultation affecting 95 staff is completed.
Crossley told The Lawyer: “This is a one-off. It’s unfortunate that we have announced the consultation, but we’re taking a considered and pessimistic view of the next six months.”
The firm confirmed that 42 fee-earners, none of whom are partners, and 53 support staff face the axe as part of its redundancy consultation launched earlier this month (TheLawyer.com, 14 November).
Crossley, however, anticipates that the final number of jobs cut will be lower than 95. He said: “We hope the number of actual redundancies will be fewer than the indicative figures, since we’ll be looking to retrain and redeploy a number of people who will be displaced.”
The news comes as Eversheds launches a second round of redundancy talks with 45 lawyers and related support staff, predominantly in ;M&A, ;finance ;and insurance (TheLawyer.com, 12 November).
The fresh consultation comes despite Eversheds chief executive David Gray stating that the first round, which has seen up to 33 real estate lawyers put on notice, would allay the fears of other fee-earners potentially facing the axe.
As reported on The Lawyer.com (4 September), Gray said: “Making the position clear hopefully will put other lawyers at ease. There will be a lot of concern and worry among those that could be made redundant, but for the rest of the business it will be reassuring to know where they stand.”
