Job cuts at DLA Piper "not affecting lawyers"
DLA PIPER yesterday announced plans for dozens of redundancies in Yorkshire, but insists it will continue to invest in its Leeds and Sheffield offices.
The law firm plans to cut 200 roles across the UK, of which 85 are in Yorkshire, and transfer the functions to Warsaw, Poland as part of a “streamlining exercise”.
Sarah Day, Leeds managing partner of the law firm, said that the business needed to review its back office functions.
“The business as we know it today has grown through merger over the past 15 to 20 years,” she said. “To some extent we inherited business support services from these merged firms, taking on the HR and IT functions in those businesses. We have done well up to now.
“But we needed a strategic move to streamline support services and make sure they support the growth and continued integration we’re looking for going forward.
“What we’re proposing today makes business support more efficient going forward, and allows for the best quality people specialising in different areas to do that
Ms Day said that relocating to Warsaw, a “global centre for excellence for these services” would allow “market leaders” to take over DLA Piper’s back office functions.
But, she said, this did not mean that ‘northshoring’ was unviable.
“There are cost savings in what we’re doing,” she said, “but we’re also investing in the business we will also be hiring people, including into Leeds, so the people we attract and want to continue to attract will be doing more exciting, interesting jobs.
“The aim is that the quality of jobs will be further enhanced and improved, meaning more satisfying jobs and better career progression.
“As a region we shouldn’t tell ourselves that northshoring is simply a way of getting processes done more cheaply. There are areas where that is relevant but for us as a law firm serving regional and global clients, getting right strategic support for fee earners is important as is freeing up people from administrative work.”
Despite the larger proposed job cuts in Yorkshire, where 85 jobs face offshoring to Europe, compared to 33 in the North West and 23 in Birmingham, Ms Day said this was not an attempt to consolidate the two Yorkshire offices in Leeds and Sheffield.
She said: “This is move is not affecting lawyers. We have lawyers in each city, clients in each city and attract talent in each city, none of what we’re doing here is changing that.”
“We have different business support services in Leeds and Sheffield – nothing in these proposals will mean we close offices.”
The consultation on the proposed plans for restructuring at DLA Piper will start on May 31 to be completed by the end of July.
