Hot on the heels of Addleshaws’ announcement that it is to axe 19 partners comes news from Ashurst that it is to get rid of 10 equity partners. According to The Lawyer seven London equity partners and three overseas equity partners have lost their jobs in the finance, corporate, commercial and projects teams. Meanwhile LG has launched a second redundancy consultation which could see up to 37 members of staff lose their jobs.

Addleshaws’ move is likely to reflect a growing trend over the coming year. According to The Times law firms have been targeting underperforming partners in an effort to cut costs for some time now, forcing them to accept a reduced equity share or simply asking them to leave. The newspaper also reveals that recruiters have predicted as many as 15 per cent of the 12,000 partners at the top firms — about 2,000 senior lawyers — could lose their jobs this year.

Adding to this issue is the seemingly predictable revelation in Legal Week that the UK’s top companies are set to cut back on the amount of legal work sent to external advisers and retain work in-house. A survey by the journal has found that more than a fifth of companies (23%) are planning to scale back the amount of work they send to private practice firms over the next year, with that figure increasing to 28% within the FTSE 100.

Companies see it as a good way of reducing costs and an even better way of ensuring that their legal teams have a proper understanding of their businesses…!