Pannone to cut 35 jobs
MANCHESTER law firm Pannone has said a consultation process is likely to result in 35 people losing their jobs, despite it posting increased fee income for the year.
The firm, which employs 718 staff, blamed the cuts on “challenging market conditions” but in the same statement said it had increased fee income by 2.75% for the year to the end of April 2009, to £52.3m from £50.9m.
Managing partner Steven Grant said: “It is to the great credit of everyone at Pannone that we accomplished this given the current economic climate.”
He added “Whilst the diversity of services which we offer has enabled many of our teams to perform well, we are not immune to the effects of the economic downturn.
“We have had to make cost savings, which regrettably include job losses. We are now nearing the end of formal redundancy consultations, which are likely to involve 35 job losses, the majority in administrative and support roles.
“We have done as much as we can to reduce the scale of these losses by agreeing temporary, voluntary reductions in pay and hours in our real estate and corporate teams.”
The latest round of redundancies follow cuts made in December when more than 10 people lost their jobs, including director of communications and equity partner Deborah Ascott-Jones.
