Australian Lawyers Weekly reported yesterday that…
DLA Phillips Fox has confirmed that 20 lawyers and 26 support staff were made redundant this week. They told the legal newspaper that this was the firm’s second round of cuts, with 12 lawyers – mainly from the firm’s New Zealand offices – having been shown the door in November last year.
Lawyers Weekly report:
In a statement released Friday, the firm’s CEO, Tony Crawford said: "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 ongoing fall-off in marketplace activity means we need to act in a way that is both strategically and commercially sensible."
Crawford also confirmed that the firm was introducing a flexible working initiative which will involves staff agreeing to work reduced hours for a proportionate salary sacrifice. The scheme will come into effect in July, with staff being asked to sign on for a 12-month period.
The initiative is designed to enable the firm to retain staff in practice areas in which work flows have slowed as a result of the economic downturn but that have a reasonable expectation that work volumes will pick up in the medium term.
http://www.lawyersweekly.com.au/blogs/top_stories/archive/2009/05/22/the-fox-confirms-46-cuts.aspx
