Law firm redundancy announcements have generally been absent of late. However, government plans to cut public sector spending are making law firms nervous, and it has been reported that Trowers & Hamlins is considering laying off associates in its public sector practice.
Whilst a Trowers spokesman declined to comment on any redundancy plans, a report in Legal Week suggests that the firm - which has UK offices in London, Manchester and Exeter - is blaming the spending cuts for its decision to review up to four associate roles. And this review is not the only sign of trouble at Trowers. Two associates were made redundant in the firm's Dubai and Bahrain offices earlier this year and two corporate partners have opted to take unpaid leave for the whole of August.
All of this seems surprising, given that Trowers has enjoyed a couple of years of fairly healthy turnover growth and saw a 9% increase in PEP this year.
But then it's a woeful time for the public sector in general. It emerged this week that £2bn is to be slashed off the MoJ's £9b budget, leaving some 15,000 jobs under threat. The Public and Commercial Services Union has warned that cuts on this scale cannot be made without closing prisons and bringing the courts to a standstill.
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Whilst a Trowers spokesman declined to comment on any redundancy plans, a report in Legal Week suggests that the firm - which has UK offices in London, Manchester and Exeter - is blaming the spending cuts for its decision to review up to four associate roles. And this review is not the only sign of trouble at Trowers. Two associates were made redundant in the firm's Dubai and Bahrain offices earlier this year and two corporate partners have opted to take unpaid leave for the whole of August.
All of this seems surprising, given that Trowers has enjoyed a couple of years of fairly healthy turnover growth and saw a 9% increase in PEP this year.
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Trowers' public sector group's offices yesterday |
But then it's a woeful time for the public sector in general. It emerged this week that £2bn is to be slashed off the MoJ's £9b budget, leaving some 15,000 jobs under threat. The Public and Commercial Services Union has warned that cuts on this scale cannot be made without closing prisons and bringing the courts to a standstill.