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DLA Phillips Fox makes 20 lawyers redundant
DLA Phillips Fox has made 20 fee earners and 26 support and administrative staff roles redundant.
Kate Gibbs
DLA Phillips Fox has made 20 fee earners and 26 support and administrative staff roles redundant, The New Lawyer can reveal.
The people affected have been told, the firm said.
"Given our depth and breadth of service we are well placed to navigate the current market conditions - but this does not mean we are immune from the need to look at our own structure and ensure we are operating as efficiently as possible." said Tony Crawford, CEO of DLA Phillips Fox.
DLA Phillips Fox will implement a number of recommendations arising out of the firm strategic review including a number of redundancies and the introduction of a flexible working policy.
Crawford said that "the decision to retrench staff has not been taken lightly and the firm has done everything it could to minimise the impact on staff affected. Ultimately however, the on-going fall off in market place activity means we need to act in a way that is both strategically and commercially sensible".
The redundancies follow on from the 12 fee earner roles, largely in New Zealand, that were made redundant in November last year. The firm has over 1,300 staff throughout Australia and New Zealand.
All staff affected by the redundancies have been offered redundancy packages and additional assistance, the firm said today.
The firm is also introducing a flexible working initiative which means it is able to retain staff in those areas of the business affected by the present economic downturn but where they believe there is a reasonable expectation that work volumes will pick up in the medium term.
Flexible Working Practices (FWP) involves staff agreeing to work reduced hours for a proportionate salary sacrifice.
"The implementation of FWP has meant we have been able to keep our redundancies to a minimum." Crawford said.
FWP will come into effect in July 2009 and staff are being be asked to sign on for FWP for a 12 month period.
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