The Lawyer (UK) is reporting that
UK magic circle firm Allen & Overy Allen & Overy (A&O) is in "redundancy consultations" with up to 10 lawyers in its Hong Kong office, after seven of its partners there quit to join Latham & Watkins last year (The Lawyer, 20 October 2008).
In the report The Lawyer writes:
In a statement the firm said: "Our business in Hong Kong is undergoing a restructuring in view of the departure of seven partners and exceptionally difficult market conditions.
"In any restructuring the interests of our people are paramount. We are still exploring a number of options with our people and due to this we are not able to comment further."
The firm confirmed that in response to Clifford Chance redundancies last week (8 January), it alerted staff on its global intranet that it could not rule out future redundancies.
The note assured staff it would be taking a long term view but added: "That said, we can never rule out the possibility of targeted redundancies if there is a material and sustained downturn in our business or there are exceptional business reasons in particular practice groups or geographies."
http://www.thelawyer.com/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=136310&d=415&h=417&f=416
