There was more bad news on the redundancy front this week as Addleshaw Goddard announced yesterday that 24 fee earners were at risk, and Irwin Mitchell confirmed that nine staff had been booted out in April.

Addleshaws is in the uncomfortable situation of announcing the consultation at the same time as reporting a rise in profits per equity partner of 37% (with turnover and profit also up 5% and 30% respectively). The explanation, as ever, is that in this difficult and nervous market, senior people on big money are singularly failing to leave. As the law firm model normally relies upon natural attrition, the only solution for increasingly top-heavy firms is to undertake a bit of unnatural enforced attrition, as recent examples have shown.

Paul Devitt, the firm's Managing Partner, said that "the proportion of our senior fee earners (particularly 7+ years' qualification) has steadily increased over recent years while all other levels have decreased". So "the difficult decision" had been taken "to rebalance the shape and size of our front-line fee earner resource by reducing the number of non-partner fee earners".

An Addleshaws' lawyer celebrates the firm's 30% rise in profits by clearing his desk

Meanwhile, Irwin Mitchell has confirmed that nine members of staff were made redundant a couple of months ago. A spokesman said that "a small number of staff, including support staff, were made redundant in our Business Legal services division towards the end of our last financial year in April but there is no redundancy consultation programme currently underway at Irwin Mitchell and we have no plans to begin one".