Redundancies expected at law firm weeks after pre-pack rescue deal
STAFF at law firm Linder Myers are facing redundancy as the firm’s new owner has confirmed the start of a consultation process.
The firm, which in May was sold in a pre-pack administration deal to a newly created legal services firm called Metamorph Law, has offices in Shrewsbury, Manchester, Chester, Lytham and Preston.
Metamorph Law today confirmed that it has carried out a comprehensive review of Linder Myers and decided that “significant changes” are needed, including the relocation of front line services in Manchester and Chester.
Simon Goldhill, chief executive of the Metamorph Group, said: “Metamorph Law is a business that focuses on providing services to private clients and their businesses and therefore needs to be close to where they live and work. Having our lawyers based in city centres is not the right location. Our new offices provide a better environment for both clients and staff.”
He said the review had also identified “areas of the business where there is a significant mismatch between the amount of work being generated and the capacity of the staff available to do the work” and that it has started a redundancy process.
Mr Goldhill set up Metamorph Law to acquire existing high street and SME focussed legal practices. The Linder Myers acquisition was its first and Goldhill has plans to acquire up to 60 firms nationally over the next five years.
He told TheBusinesDesk.com in May: “It is a fantastic first acquisition for us and is in all the practice areas we are looking to develop. It is of significant size with around 200 people and it has all the support functions we will need to build the business.”
A former commercial litigator in London, Mr Goldhill set up a personal injury litigation mediation firm InterResolve and has since worked with consumer organisation Which on the opportunities within the high street legal market.
“When they decided not to do that area of work, I decided it was too good an opportunity to miss and created Metamorph Law,” he said.
Funding was been provided by high net worth private individuals, and some of the people involved in legal business consultancy Assure Law have taken minority stakes, Mr Goldhill said.
