Pinsent Masons is to cut 13 fee-earners from its employment practice in a third round of redundancies since the firm’s merger with McGrigors last May.
The firm was keen to emphasise that this latest round of cuts was unrelated to the 62 support roles lost last year but instead come as a result of department restructuring.
In a statement, Pinsents said: ‘As a firm we continue to grow and have made a number of strategic investments over the past 12 months in those sectors and markets where we see most potential for growth.
‘However, like any business we also need to monitor our resourcing levels and recognise and respond to market changes. This is particularly true in the field of employment law where market dynamics have shifted fundamentally. As a result we are taking steps to restructure our employment practice to create a group that is the right size and shape to respond to the changed nature of demand across the UK and internationally.’
Following a consultation in June 2012, 47 back-office employees were laid off in August across a number of divisions, including business development, HR and facilities many of which the result of duplication of roles post-merger. A further 15 were made redundant in December.
Conversely, the firm has appointed 14 new partners laterally since the beginning of the year, including Simmons & Simmons competition partner Jenny Block, a four-partner life sciences team from Fasken Martineau and banking litigation partner Michael Isaacs from Addleshaw Goddard.
Pinsents joins the growing list of firms to announce job cuts this year, including DLA Piper, Eversheds and CMS Cameron McKenna.
The news comes after Pinsents revealed at the end of March that it had won the contract to supply all of infrastructure giant Balfour Beatty’s business-as-usual legal work at the end of March.
francesca.fanshawe@legalease.co.uk
