Firm cites investment in legal tech as one of the reasons behind the review
International outfit Pinsent Masons has launched a major redundancy consultation that could see up to 100 personal assistant (PA) roles disappear.
The consultation, announced internally last week, is set to be completed by the end of November. With details still thin on the ground, Legal Cheek understands that Pinsents will review PA positions across all eleven of its UK offices, including London, on a department-by-department basis.
PAs affected by the review will be eligible to apply for one of the outfit’s 50 new administrative assistant roles that will be created.
Pinsents — which recently revealed a trainee retention score of 74% (67 out of 91) — said in a statement today that due to investments in “technology and other resources” its PA staffing levels and business needs “no longer aligned”. It continued:
For that reason we will be entering into a consultation with our PA team. While it is hard to be precise about the outcome of the consultation at this point, we have not ruled out the reallocation of resource or redundancy of some roles. We will do everything possible to support those impacted during what we recognise is an unsettling time.
The announcement follows similar moves by other City outfits.
In January, magic circler Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer offered voluntary redundancy to all 180 or so of its London secretarial staff. Justifying the move at the time, the firm said it was attempting to create a more defined career path for its PAs. Meanwhile, insurance specialist BLM confirmed last month it was cutting 50 secretarial and support roles following a summer consultation.
For all the latest commercial awareness info, and advance notification of Legal Cheek’s careers events, sign up to the Legal Cheek Hub.