Ashurst is nearing the end of its London redundancy round as the firm confirms 120 of its support staff will be leaving its City base after 45 days of ongoing consultations.
The 120 employees – selected out of a possible 350 staff earmarked for redundancy – have been given the option to transfer to the firm’s new lower cost Glasgow site or take redundancy, while some effort has been made to find replacement positions in London.
It is unclear at this stage how many staff will opt to relocate, although the firm confirmed that many have accepted redundancies already. Consultations around who will transfer to Glasgow are still taking place, said a spokesperson at the firm. Any transfers will be made in early 2014.
The review impacted all staff in the firm’s London business services group, which includes those working in IT, business development, finance, HR, risk and compliance, business services, and knowledge and learning.
In total 350 of Ashurst’s support staff were notified that job cuts were going to take place in light of the new Glasgow office opening in June.
The Scottish office – headed by former Dundas & Wilson partner Mike Polson -aims to create 150 new roles including 120 support staff, with the additional 30 positions made up of a newly-created legal analyst position.
The office will cover back office support and volume legal work, initially covering areas like document review in litigation and corporate, with a focus on supporting the City firm’s work in London before moving to cover the law firm’s global network.
At present, six legal analysts have been recruited, which the firm hopes to double by the end of the year.
jaishree.kalia@legalease.co.uk
