Speechly consulting on real estate, corporate jobs

City ;firm ;Speechly ­Bircham has launched a redundancy consultation with eight fee-earners.

Managing ;partner Michael Lingens told The Lawyer the consultation was the result of a two month-long business review that had identified a ­slowdown in real estate and corporate work.

“I regret any loss of good people, but this is a considered response to the current business climate,” said ­Lingens, adding that the firm is continuing to recruit in practice areas unaffected by the credit crunch, such as IP, employment and ­disputes.

Meanwhile, support staff are unlikely to be hit by the redundancy programme.
“We run a tight ship on support staff and there’s enough work for everyone,” said Lingens.

Speechly’s turnover rose by 18 per cent, from £40m to £47.2m, at the 2007-08 year-end, which was ahead of budget.