The largest law firm in the UK
DLA Piper, boasted a 4% revenue growth in the UK to £1.6bn but profit per equity partner stayed flat.
One-hundred-and-eighty business support roles are now to be relocated to Warsaw from the UK, as part of a two-year review into the firm’s operations by UK COO Andrew Darwin. The number is less than was feared when the firm first made its intentions known.
It’s “part of... plans to operate more effectively on a global basis and improve the quality, consistency and efficiency of the way we deliver our services to our clients,” he said.
The announcement reportedly follows a consultation launched in May this year.
Redundancies across the IT, finance, HR, marketing & business development and secretarial teams make up the 200 proposed job losses, the current number currently at 175.
According to a report by
Legal Business UK, the redundancies are the largest of any law firm since the global financial crisis.
It comes just three years after the firm’s last redundancy round that saw 250 staff culled and the firm shut its Glasgow office.
The firm’s Sheffield and Leeds offices are likely to be heavily affected, as well as offices in London, Birmingham, Liverpool, Edinburgh and Manchester.
It’s another sign of a market slowdown. Following the Brexit vote, Simmons & Simmons laid off lawyers in London; in March King& Wood Mallesons axed 45 business services staff in London and Reed Smith cut 45 lawyer roles across its US, UK and Middle East offices in January.
