Last week the firm admitted that 60 lawyers and 170 other staff were to go (The Lawyer, 6 May).
Although managing partner Robert Feagin would not specify how much salaries would be lowered by, it is understood that some people could lose up to 20 per cent. Feagin said that some positions had been reclassified and the employees affected would thus lose some income.
He argued that the firm had to respond to the pressures of a slower economy and that the changes were necessary to ensure that it remained competitive after undertaking a massive programme of expansion through a series of mergers. Profitability had been diluted as a result and the firm had to look closely at its outgoings.
The staff cull was the most dramatic outcome of a structural review conducted by Deloitte & Touche. Other cost-saving changes include reducing overtime, postponing spending on technology, cutting back on travel expenditure and cancelling the firm’s annual lawyers’ get-together.
Berwin Leighton Paisner makes 30 redundant
Berwin Leighton Paisner has put in place a redundancy programme that will see 16 lawyers lose their jobs at the firm, a year after the merger A total of 30 staff have been made redundant, the rest made up of support staff.The fee-earner redundancies involve assistants from across the firm’s practice areas. “Corporate was affected, […]
