Legal & Law Firm News

[Jaysen]

I'll use this thread for posts about law firms/updates in the legal industry. Please feel free to comment/post.

Restructuring secretarial ranks

Several firms have launched redundancy consultations over the past year and reduced their support staff.

• Hogan Lovells cut 54 support roles this June.
• Ince & Co announced 32 redundancies in London in July.
• Ashurst cut 54 secretarial roles after a redundancy consultation this May.
• Pinsent Masons cut 78 Legal PA roles last year.
• Freshfields offered voluntary redundancy to all secretarial staff last year.

Law firms are restructuring these support ranks in response to a variety of factors (according to their press releases), including:

• Responding to changing client needs
• Technology
• Efficiency drives
• Improving business performance
• Evolving in a competitive legal market

This is an example of how a changing legal market is having a real impact on the market. While trainees are not losing their jobs yet, the investment in technology is having an impact on support staff.