Lovells to slash 94 jobs
Lovells has begun a redundancy programme that will see up to 94 members of London staff lose their jobs.
A total of 18 lawyers are at risk of redundancy, with 43 support staff, 27 secretaries and six professional support lawyers also likely to lose their jobs.
The consultation process, which will last for one month, will begin this week once representatives of the groups affected have been elected.
London managing partner Ruth Grant said: "Over the past six months we've taken a number of steps in the London office to address capacity, including not replacing legal and other staff, reducing use of contractors, and reducing our discretionary expenditure.
"Following a reassessment of the types and levels of support services, the main focus of the programme will be on support staff and legal PAs. Some lawyers will also be affected.
"The continuing deterioration in market conditions makes it regrettable but necessary to take this action now."
The firm's partners and trainees will not be affected by the redundancy programme, although Lovells does manage out underperforming partners on an ongoing basis.
On the trainee front, the firm will retain 78 per cent of its spring qualifiers. This is roughly in line with the firm's September 2007 and September 2008 retention rates, when the firm kept on 79 per cent and 74 per cent of qualifiers respectively.
In terms of practice areas, while support staff across the board will be affected, fee-earning lawyers in the dispute resolution, business restructuring and insolvency, IP and pensions practices will not be part of the redundancy consultation.
Unlike its peers in the UK top 10, Lovells has enjoyed reasonably robust financial performance going into the recession. Over the first six months of the 2008-09 financial year the firm saw fee income increase by 15 per cent, up from £225m during the first half of the previous year to £260m.
Firmwide managing partner David Harris said: “Whilst overall performance levels across the firm have so far been reasonably good considering the economic environment, the continued uncertainty means that we need to take additional measures to manage our capacity levels and overall cost base.”
While the redundancy programme will only affect staff in London, some of the firm's international offices will also experience cuts, which will be handled locally. A spokesperson for the firm confirmed that the firm's Middle Eastern offices will be immune to cuts for the time being, while a memo has been sent to staff in Germany saying there are no plans to carry out a formal redundancy programme in the country.
The firm will decide on its severance packages as part of the redundancy consultation.
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Readers' comments (4)
New World Wonderer | 10-Feb-2009 12:57 pm
Lonely post
Does the puny response on the comments board here to 94 jobs going at Lovells mean that people don't really care about cuts anymore? Interesting to see that in comparison, at time of writing, there were 26 comments on the Freshfields pay freeze. Does this mean that people are more peturbed and angry about a firm maintaining high pay levels, as compared to a firm that has just expelled almost a 100, until now, valued staff?
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Dazed 'n Amazed | 10-Feb-2009 3:36 pm
Dazed and confused
I think the lack of comments is because the 'till now valued' staff are still walking around in a daze wondering what's hit them, and even more worried because of the suggestions that this is just round 1 of many! How this happened in spite of the great performance we were all being told about remains a mystery....
watch this space...
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Anonymous | 10-Feb-2009 4:22 pm
well all affected by redundancy so far have my sympathies
While some of us may have escaped it until now but I suspect we will all learn over the next 12-18 months that nobody (and no firm) is safe.I am certainly less worried about the prospect of a salary cut than I am about a job loss.
Now find me the unemployment insurance helpline.
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Challenged | 10-Feb-2009 6:26 pm
Yet another cut of the knife ...
... to make the meat leaner and tastier for those left behind to enjoy the feast. After a "reasonably good" performance in a very challenging and tough environment, it's all a question of balance and where your priorities lie. Sadly, in the rush to cut costs and maintain solid profitability, it's not surprising that worrying "uncertainties" so very easily become harsh certainties (at least for the select (94) few).
That's one way of coping with the challenges. Pretty unimaginative, I'd say. The Freshfields approach is another. Part-time working or even (let's be totally radical) re-investment by partners into the firm to maintain their headline PEP yet also underpin a part of their "overall cost base" might be another.
And they don't even have the fig leaf of a New World strategy to hide under. Let's hope that their skins are tough and their redundancy packages generous!
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