DLA Piper has announced that "
following a review" of its UK business it will be making redundancies across its offices and is considering closing its Glasgow office altogether. 251 roles are potentially at risk.
The firm has confirmed that it is entering a period of consultation which could see its 85-strong Glasgow office closing its doors, the closure or sale of the firm's Defendant Insurance Practice and the consolidation of its Document Production Unit into one location.
All in there are 251 roles at risk: 116 across the firm's document production unit which is currently spread across the London, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester and Sheffield offices; a mixture of 50 fee earner and non fee earner roles from the Defendant Insurance Practice; and 85 fee earner and non fee earner roles in the Glasgow office. The consultation is set to start around 28 November with decisions to be
finalised by the New Year.
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Festivities at DLA
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So it's looking to be a pretty bleak festive period for a huge swathe of DLA-ers if plans go ahead. There are some small glimmers of hope, however. The firm has said that there may be transfers to the Edinburgh office, new document production roles will be available in Leeds and trainees will not be included in the consultation. Plus, the firm will also be offering an enhanced redundancy package to all those getting chopped, which will be a welcome relief to those who
remember the firm's stinginess during its redundancy rounds back in 2009.
As RollOnFriday reported last year, the addition of
Tony "hardman of the law" Angel to the DLA Piper partnership, indicated that the firm was likely to be making changes. Angel is well known for his love of a lean, profit-making law firm model.
A spokesman for the firm said "
Following a comprehensive review of our UK business designed to ensure that we are operating in a manner, in the locations, and across the practice areas that support both our strategic objectives and the needs of our clients, we have begun a period of consultation in the UK that will consider the possible closure of our Glasgow office, the closure or divestment of our Defendant Insurance Practice and the consolidation into one location of our current multi-site Document Production Unit."