Cut backs at local law firm

February 18, 2009
By

Law firm, Thring Townsend Lee & Pembertons has responded to the worsening economic climate by announcing a cutback of up to 20 staff across its offices in Swindon, Bristol, Bath, Marlborough and Cirencester.

Suffering the same commercial pressures as most businesses and individuals, the legal profession has already seen redundancies in some of the country’s largest law firms. Thring Townsend Lee & Pembertons has announced today that it has begun a consultation period for up to 20 redundancies, at all levels. It has also made the decision to move its Cirencester and Marlborough practices to its larger Swindon office.

Thring Townsend Lee & Pembertons has, for several years, followed a strategy of developing away from the commoditised services encouraged by the Legal Services Act 2007 and positioning itself as a specialist and advisory practice in the private client, agriculture and commercial sectors. So far, that strategy has proved to be a wise choice; the firm has grown considerably in both size and reputation over the last three years.

Managing Partner, Thomas Sheppard, said,” Along with most businesses the legal sector is not immune to this recession. We have been tracking the impact of the banking crisis on both ourselves and our clients through 2008 and there is no early end to the downturn in sight. We expect this to be a difficult year for many of our clients and we need to keep the firm in good shape during what may be a prolonged recession”.

“This consultation process has been planned very carefully. We have a very low staff turnover and to make these redundancies is not something we have undertaken lightly. Sadly, this is the only option to protect the majority of our 380 staff and to keep the firm in good shape for life after the recession.”

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