RollOnFriday reveals widespread discrimination against redundant lawyers
02 October 2009
RollOnFriday can reveal that there is blatant and widespread discrimination throughout the City against lawyers who have been made redundant.

Last week's report that a recruitment consultant wouldn't consider redundant lawyers who for a job seems to be the tip of the iceberg. Readers deluged RollOnFriday Towers with complaints about both rec cons and law firms. All had the same experience: their attempts to apply for a job had been stymied when they revealed they'd been made redundant. The firms who came in for the most criticism were American, with several big names being accused of discrimination.

Typical comments included:

"A number of recruitment consultants have told me that certain positions (usually those with silver circle and above, and US firms) are not available to those who have been made redundant".

"As a banking / finance lawyer made redundant in December last year and still searching for full time employment, I can categorically confirm that a number of firms, all US in my experience, will only consider candidates in full time employment".

"Despite having worked at a Magic Circle and US firm I was told [by a recruitment consultant] in relation to vacancies at top 10 firms that they would not consider anyone who had been made redundant regardless of the quality of the candidate".

"When recruiters phone me up I tell them about one of my friends who was made redundant and is of a similar skill set and pqe. They are totally uninterested".

Given the sweeping nature of many firms' redundancy programmes, this would seem a very short-sighted approach. And despite reports from candidates, all the firms RollOnFriday spoke to about this denied rejecting associates based on their employment status. 

Recruitment consultants similarly denied that such an accusation could be levelled at them, with one claiming that these complaints only came from lawyers who couldn't get a job and were looking for a way to express their anger at the profession. Yeah, right. One consultant however had the decency to confirm that "we have definitely had clients stating that they would not recruit associates who have been made redundant".

Readers with more tales to tell should use the button below to write in.