Clifford Chance to Cut 115 Staffers

Clifford Chance has announced further cuts to its London office, with the Magic Circle firm set to make up to 115 business support staff redundant.

The firm started reviewing its 1,200 strong London business support staff earlier this year, with details emerging today that between 105 and 115 positions will be cut.

The job cuts, which come on top of a separate redundancy program for London lawyers that is expected to result in 80 job cuts, will affect all business support functions in London other than IT.

Clifford Chance is appointing employee representatives from functions including human resources, secretarial, mail room, building maintenance, finance, business development, and education and training departments. The representatives will communicate with staff and give feedback to the firm over the 90-day consultation period.

IT staff are subject to a separate consultation of the firm’s offshore global services center, which is expected to lead to a number of job losses and some positions being sent to India.

The firm declined to comment about cuts to its international offices.

In addition to the business support and associate job cuts, Clifford Chance is also mid-way through a wide-scale review of the firm’s partnership, which is expected to see a number of salaried and equity partners expelled.