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  • January 30, 2009 |

    Charles Russell to cut up to 18 jobs; 4-day week on offer

    Charles Russell is offering its lawyers the chance to work a four-day week as it emerges that the firm has also launched a redundancy consultation. The City firm confirmed that it has started a formal redundancy programme, although it refused to comment on the numbers or type of staff involved on the grounds that discussions are still ongoing. The firm has, however, introduced the option of a four-day working week, with reduced salary, in a bid to reduce the numbers affected and stave off further cuts.

    1 minute read

  • January 29, 2009 |

    City lawyers braced for widespread partner cuts

    City partners are preparing for a gruesome year, with half of all partners believing that firms are carrying too much deadwood at senior level and 97% expecting to see partnerships downsized. In the wake of Addleshaw Goddard announcing that it is to cut around 10% of its partnership (see page 13), the latest Legal Week Big Question survey found that almost three out of five partners (58%) believe most major law firms are carrying too many underperforming partners.With partnership cutbacks also last week emerging at both Ashurst and Linklaters, most of the 166 respondents expect to see similar restructurings at other leading firms. Only 3% believed the Addleshaws cuts were a one-off, with the remaining 97% all predicting similar moves to follow.

    1 minute read

  • January 29, 2009 |

    Firms to stem cuts with damage limitation plans

    Some of the UK's top law firms have started putting together back-up plans in a bid to minimise lawyer job cuts over the coming months. Firms including Simmons & Simmons, Taylor Wessing, Wragge & Co and Ashurst are among those thought to be seriously considering alternative options, as the number of legal redundancies in the City mounts by the day. Several firms are considering asking associates to take a period of unpaid leave, with Ashurst understood to have already offered this as an option to associates.

    1 minute read

  • January 29, 2009 |

    Editor's comment: No hiding place

    Given the stream of news last week of partnership restructurings, a cynic might wonder if City firms need reminding that a partner is supposed to be for a sizeable chunk of life, not just Christmas. Certainly, the impact of the global recession last week unambiguously made itself apparent at partner level after three months in which junior lawyers and support staff have been in the firing line. That this day would come was no great surprise, though there had been a suspicion that firms would try to get by with a slightly heavier round of the 'lawn mowing' that these firms traditionally use to keep their partnerships in shape. Such a course would have given firms until September to make a final call on whether the situation would require wholesale restructuring but this time boldness has won the day.

    1 minute read

  • January 29, 2009 |

    Ashurst set to name new German chief

    Ashurst is in the process of deciding on a new head of its German practice, with Simon Beddow set to return to London after four years in Frankfurt. Beddow, a private equity specialist, is set to rejoin the London office in April after extending his original term in charge of the German practice by one year. Appointed in 2005, Beddow replaced corporate partner Hermann Schlindwein as the firm moved to raise its profile in the region. Since he took the helm, the German practice, which comprises offices in Munich and Frankfurt, has grown from 55 lawyers to 110 - including 23 partners. The group has also bolstered its client roster through roles for names including US private equity house Apollo and Commerzbank, which the firm advised on its 2007 bid for Berlin-based Landesbank in 2007.

    1 minute read

  • January 29, 2009 |

    Freshfields Mid East corporate head returns to the City

    Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer's Middle East corporate head Bruce Embley is set to relocate to London in May after spending the last three years in Dubai. Embley will take up a new role as chief co-ordinating partner for the Middle East in London, with David Higgins, who relocated to Dubai from London in November to co-lead the corporate group, taking the reins singlehandedly.Freshfields has four partners in Dubai and is intending to keep numbers stable by relocating another partner - yet to be named - this spring.

    1 minute read

  • January 28, 2009 |

    30 further jobs under threat at Blake Lapthorn

    Blake Lapthorn has launched its second redundancy consultation in the last four months with up to 30 jobs under threat. The consultation, which was kicked off earlier this week (January 27), will affect the firm's offices in London and the southeast.The firm's corporate and real estate divisions are the areas most likely to be affected, with secretarial and business support staff also under consultation.

    1 minute read

  • January 27, 2009 |

    Ashurst to lay off up to 15 staff in latest cuts

    Ashurst has entered into a redundancy consultation with a number of its London-based support staff. The firm has kicked off a consultation within the last two weeks, with around 15 secretarial positions in London at risk. The consultation, which mainly affects float secretaries and staff on night shifts, is expected to conclude in February. The top 10 City firm confirmed the talks in a statement saying: "We are in the course of a consultation process to make a small number of secretaries redundant in accordance with business needs."

    1 minute read

  • January 22, 2009 |

    Ashurst moves to downsize equity partnership

    Ten equity partners are to leave Ashurst equity this year in the face of continued economic pressures. The partners come from a number of practice areas and span both the firm's London HQ and international offices.It is believed that some of the 10 include partners that have chosen to retire for lifestyle reasons, though one former partner today described the departing group as being generally "mid-ranked" with the firm's equity.

    1 minute read

  • January 22, 2009 |

    Imperial Tobacco restructures UK legal team

    Imperial Tobacco has restructured its core UK legal team following its takeover of Spanish tobacco rival Altadis.The merged company has around 35-40 lawyers, including 10 in the legal team's Bristol headquarters. The overhaul will see the Bristol lawyers organised across four legal disciplines - company/commercial, intellectual property (IP), litigation and regulatory - rather than by geography. Lawyers within the wider group will then report into the relevant UK discipline head.

    1 minute read