Law Fuel Reports That Jobs Going At Big Law Australia

Interesting because we only reported recently that positions were also going in the states at the moment . Are we due another one of those big contractions in the legal sector again?   Here's what Lawfuel say.... http://www.lawfuel.co.nz/news/1595/more-redundancies-at-top-australian-law-firms Australian law firm Clayton Utz is making 40 roles in the Sydney and Melbourne offices redundant, following a trend among several large Australian firms for layoffs. Clayton Utz already made two dozen redundancies in 2012, at below-partner level, and it also introduced a flexi-time deal to avoid further redundancies.  But that has not prevented the current layoffs.  Revenues have declined by nearly $19 million between 2012 and 2013. In additon Norton Rose lost 30 jobs last year and closed its Canberra office, wh ile Corrs Chambers Westgarth made a dozen redundant last March, including four Sydney corporate lawyers. Gadens and Henry Davis  York are other firms to have recently laid off lawyers. A number of Clayton Utze  department heads and senior managers have been affected by the job cuts, including the firm’s head of diversity and head of learning and organisational development. Lawyers Weekly reports that the head of diversity role has been absorbed by Alison Woosley, the head of business strategy and diversity at Clutz’s Sydney office. Two heads of finance have also been appointed in Sydney, along with a new head of pricing. The firm’s finance, people and development, library services and knowledge management departments suffered the heaviest job losses. Lawyers in non-core practice groups have also been affected. Lawyers Weekly understands that the redundancies began in July, with the Sydney office hardest hit. Former Sydney managing partner Kate Jordan (pictured), who is now deputy chief executive partner – people and development at Clutz, provided the following statement when approached by Lawyers Weekly: “A small number of roles across the business have been made redundant as part of a general review of our business structure and resourcing needs.