Legal Business

Wragge & Co sees H1 revenues and profits up as Metcalfe to leave after end of MP term

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Financial results 2013/14 Gowling WLG
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Wragge & Co has named October 2013 as its highest billing month since the boom years as it joins the ranks of firms posting positive results for the first half (H1) of 2013/14, news which comes as Ian Metcalfe confirms he will be departing the firm to pursue other opportunities when he steps down as managing partner next April.

The top 30 Birmingham-headquartered firm has posted a group turnover increase of 4% to £63m, which includes the firm’s international offices both owned and affiliated, while the UK offices saw a revenue increase 6% on the same period last year to £58m.

Wragge & Co is so far unusual in announcing its mid-term profits and it has good reason to shout about them, as they are up 15% on this time last year.Metcalfe attributes much of the firm’s financial success so far to strong performances from real estate and dispute resolution, and said October 2013 is the best month for billing overall since October 2008, when the firm was at its peak.

Metcalfe said: ‘Things are looking pretty positive. Both the macro-economic environment and the market is better, we have been operating at over 100% utilisation in many practice areas and we have been actively recruiting in real estate.

‘It’s been a long slog, and we continue not to be complacent. There’s still a long way to go but there appears to be a positive and sustained pipeline and we seem to be looking out over a strong second half.’

The difference between group and UK figures comes down in part to its affiliated office in Dubai, which is not performing as well, while the firm’s Paris base lost a seven-lawyer real estate and finance team to local firm Franklin in July.

A replacement four-lawyer real estate team led by partner Constance de La Hosseraye from the local office of leading UK firm Bird & Bird was announced shortly after.

With these positive figures a testament to Metcalfe’s safe helm of the firm during his eight often difficult years as managing partner, he will be leaving the firm next year when projects head David Fennell takes over in April.

Metcalfe told Legal Business this week that he will not be returning to client work at the firm as originally planned but will be leaving to pursue other non-legal opportunities in the world of business.

Metcalfe – who currently fulfils non-executive roles on the board of the Rugby Football Union and on the board of England Rugby 2015, the board responsible for delivering the 2015 rugby world cup, the third largest sporting event in the world – will be looking for non-executive roles.

‘I was fortunate enough to preside over the best year the firm ever had in 2008 when we had our highest turnover, and I’ve dealt with the most extreme fall in profits the firm has ever had and managed the firm through the recession. I am determined to hand over the ship in good order to David and give him the best possible start,’ said Metcalfe.

‘I will continue to have a consulting role in the 12 months after I leave. For me it would be quite hard to recreate a corporate practice at 56.

‘I will be looking at other possibilities – a third career if you like – with great excitement and am thrilled to be leaving in good heart with a very positive relationship with the firm, which I have worked at for 25 years.’

francesca.fanshawe@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

BPO – Wragges transfers 65 support staff to Intelligent Office as 26 staff take redundancy

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Following an extensive review of its legal support services in May, Wragge & Co has made 26 full time equivalent (FTE) staff redundant with a further 65 roles transferred across to business process outsourcing (BPO) group Intelligent Office.

The BPO arrangement sees staff from across all four of the 502-lawyer firm’s legal groups – corporate, commercial, finance and projects; real estate; human resources; and dispute resolution – transfer to form a new document production centre, concierge hubs and a ‘docucentre’ for reprographics, post and archiving, all managed on site by Intelligent Office.

Wragge & Co, which launched the restructuring of its legal support services in May 2013, putting 30 FTE secretarial and PA roles across the London and Birmingham offices at risk, said that no compulsory redundancies were made when the consultation ended in August and that the 26 staff all requested voluntary redundancy.

Managing partner Ian Metcalfe said: ‘The new structure has been phased in over the last three months, with the final phase going live on 1 October. The new structure is still bedding in but we are confident we have the right people in the right roles, and that this is the right way forward for the firm, our clients and our people.

‘We wish those who chose not stay with us all the best in the future.’

Wragges is the latest to cut its support staff headcount after Maclay Murray & Spens confirmed in September that it had made 28 legal and support staff redundant soon after Bevan Brittan confirmed the loss of six support staff and a number of fee-earning roles.

Around the same time, Ashurst announced a redundancy consultation in its City base in response to its new low-cost base in Glasgow, confirming in October that 120 jobs are to go.

Meanwhile, Midlands firm Shakespeares, which, following the announcement of its acquisition of Leicester-based property firm Marrons and Coventry-based Newsome Vaughan, also confirmed in September it is restructuring its secretarial function and launched a redundancy round with 19 out of 100 secretarial roles put at risk across its seven offices.

francesca.fanshawe@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

India still a land of promise as LG tightens referral relationship

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Asia Gowling WLG
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With foreign investor confidence in India shaken by the weakening rupee and the country’s high debt-to-GDP ratio in many ways it seems a strange time for Lawrence Graham (LG) to be entering into a referral relationship with Indian law firm Naik Naik & Company, as it did at the end of September.

LG has had an informal relationship with Naik since the beginning of 2010 but now both firms want to strengthen the referral arrangements in a bid to create new opportunities across their corporate, commercial, litigation and real estate groups.

The two firms have a number of common clients including international media group Time Focus, securities firm Cenkos and Nigel Burgess Yacht Brokers.

LG’s India head Sunil Kakkad told Legal Business that, despite the ongoing challenges with the Indian economy – including the weakening rupee, the decline in foreign investment and the lack of inbound work – he shares the views of many who believe the difficulties are temporary. Structural challenges have always been present in India, not least the bar rules that prevent firms from outside the jurisdiction from setting up within, therefore they did not disrupt the firm’s plans to formalise its relationship with Naik.

‘Whether or not India opens up, there is still a big client base there and having a trusted association within the Indian legal market provides a strong bench for the firm,’ said Kakkad. ‘We want to be able to pick up the phone and use a firm we can trust’

Naik’s founder and managing partner of Ameet Naik added: ‘Having consolidated our presence in the TMT sector, this association will enhance the firm’s offering for transactional and dispute resolution work and benefit our clients in connecting the dots between India, London, Dubai and Singapore to ensure seamless access to legal assistance.’

The venture comes after LG strengthened another emerging markets association last year, entering into a referral scheme with Brazil’s Motta, Fernandes Rocha – Advogado, which has offices in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.

LG managing partner Hugh Maule said: ‘As one of the fastest growing and most exciting economies in the world, our clients are focused increasingly on the Indian market and we will now be able to offer them even better access to the very best local legal advice.’

jaishree.kalia@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Leadership: Wragge & Co’s Metcalfe steps down as Fennell steps up

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Ian Metcalfe’s eight year stewardship of Wragge & Co as managing partner is to come to an end in April next year when current head of the firm’s projects team David Fennell will take over the role, the firm has announced.

Focusing on projects and PFI, Fennell has led the firm’s 12-partner projects team for the past six years, having joined Wragges from Herbert Smith in 1996, becoming partner in 2002. His stand out projects include advising Amey on two high-profile multi-billion pound highways deals in 2012.

Senior partner Quentin Poole told Legal Business: ‘Generally we try to avoid head to head elections so it’s been my job in the last two or three years since Ian said he’d step down at the end of his term, to do some general canvassing and debating. Over a number of meetings with partners, we aired possible candidates (there were four or

five possible contenders) and came to a consensus.

‘It will be the first time in eight years the firm will have a new managing partner and the last one was eight years before that, so it’s a big deal.’

Fennell added: ‘The legal market is changing. Clients are asking for more, the market is consolidating and no law firm can afford to be complacent. Wragge & Co has a clear strategy. We are in a good position, with our people, clients, culture and reputation to thrive in a competitive market. I am looking forward to my new role and to helping the firm grow and develop.’

Since Metcalfe, who will return to fee-earning in the corporate practice, took over in 2006, the firm has increased its turnover by 19% from £101.3m at the end of 2005-06 to £120.5 at the end of last financial year. The firm has also expanded outside the UK opening offices in Munich, Paris, Guangzhou and the United Arab Emirates, adding to the firm’s base in Brussels, which opened in 1999.

Wragges, which undertakes the majority of its work in its 800-strong Birmingham office, has in recent years pushed to strengthen its 200-strong City base, increasing the number of partners by 42 across a wide-range of practice areas, including a number of lateral hires. The election comes as the firm prepares to move to bigger Birmingham premises in Snow Hill.

Key hires for the firm include most recently former DAC Beachcroft real estate partner Reena Patel, who joined Wragges as a commercial development and investment partner last month, which came shortly after the appointment of a four-lawyer real estate team in Paris led by partner Constance de La Hosseraye.

Others to join the firm include former Norton Rose Middle East infrastructure head Jonathan Brufal, qualified barrister Duncan Field who joined Wragges’ planning and regeneration team, and former Dundas & Wilson real estate litigation partner Martin Thomas, who all joined the firm last year.

francesca.fanshawe@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Panel win: £15bn Pension Protection Fund reveals new line up

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Adviser reviews Clyde & CoDentonsGowling WLG
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Labelled one of the most important institutions in the pensions industry with £15bn of assets under management, the Pension Protection Fund yesterday (7 October) announced its new slimmed down legal panel, with Wragge & Co winning a first time appointment for the body as one of three core advisers.

International firms Clyde & Co and Dentons also won core advisory roles on the panel, which has shrunk from a total of 27 firms in 2007 to 23 following a comprehensive tendering process.

Ten firms including Addleshaw Goddard, Berwin Leighton Paisner and Bond Dickinson have been appointed to the PPF’s insolvency and corporate panel, which will be called on to advise where it ‘makes recoveries from insolvent employers and in particular on those occasions where there is consensual restructuring.’

In addition, 18 firms, including a number of those appointed to the insolvency panel as well as first-time appointees such as Ashurst and Herbert Smith Freehills, have won a place on a ‘specialist and reserve’ panel, to give added ‘strength and depth’ in specialist areas such as litigation and investment work.

However, the PPF anticipates that where possible the three core firms will provide it with the majority of its service requirements, the body said in a statement today.

Both Clydes and Dentons have worked for the PPF previously. Clyde & Co partner Mark Howard was previously seconded to the in-house legal team at the PPF, which included advising on legislation to establish the organisation, while Dentons has advised the organisation on IT procurement matters.

The organisation has also entered a sharing agreement with the Regulators’ Procurement Forum under which 12 separate regulatory bodies including the Postal Service Commission, the Office of the Rail Regulator, the OFT and the Civil Aviation Authority are allowed access to the PPF’s panel firms under terms agreed.

PPF director of strategy and legal affairs David Taylor said: ‘Legal issues pervade everything that we do – so it was important that we spent the time and resource making sure that we have the right firms to provide the right advice and support as we continue to grow and develop.

‘With the benefit of eight years’ experience we have a clearer idea of our medium-term legal needs and I am delighted that we have reshaped our panel accordingly.

‘The PPF now protects hundreds of thousands of pension scheme members, is increasingly involved in complex restructuring deals and litigation and manages an expanding asset portfolio which currently stands at around £15 billion. I look forward to working with all our panel firms on the many interesting and novel issues that continue to arise on a daily basis.’

The PPF added that, apart from technical expertise, the primary criteria for choosing firms was quality of service and value for money. The new three-year contracts have the potential to run for a further two years.

Wragge & Co human resources partner Paul Feathers said the win was ‘an excellent opportunity for [the firm] to work in partnership with one of the most important institutions in the pensions industry and to help the PPF continue to provide essential protection for members of defined benefit occupational pension schemes.’

The PPF panel in full:

The insolvency and corporate panel comprises: Addleshaw Goddard, Berwin Leighton Paisner, Bond Dickinson, Mayer Brown, Moon Beever, Nabarro, Osborne Clarke, Pitmans, Squire Sanders and Stephenson Harwood, as well as the three core panel firms Clyde & Co, Dentons and Wragge & Co.

The specialist and reserve panel comprises: Addleshaw Goddard, Ashurst, Berwin Leighton Paisner, Bevan Brittan, Bond Dickinson, Burness Paull, Dundas & Wilson, Field Fisher Waterhouse, Herbert Smith Freehills, Hogan Lovells, Jones Day, Kingsley Napley, Mayer Brown, Nabarro, Osborne Clarke, Sacker & Partners, Squire Sanders and Stephenson Harwood.

 

sarah.downey@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Revolving Doors: Macfarlanes, LG and Howes Percival boost commercial real estate as CMS takes on RPC reinsurance head

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Strategic recruitment Gowling WLGHowes PercivalMacfarlanes
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A resurgence in commercial real estate work has seen heightened lateral activity in the sector with hires by Macfarlanes, Lawrence Graham (LG) and Howes Percival in a week that has also seen CMS Cameron McKenna boosts its reinsurance capability with the hire of RPC head Simon Kilgour.

Macfarlanes continues to focus on growing its non-contentious construction and real estate practices with the hire of Ashurst’s head of construction, Ann Minogue.

Minogue, who has represented high-profile property companies including British Land, Chelsfield Partners, Hines, Stanhope and the Tate, joins the 312-lawyer firm after 20 years at top 15 rival Ashurst. Her arrival follows that of Clare Breeze who joined as a commercial real estate partner from Shearman & Sterling in July.

Speaking to Legal Business, senior partner Charles Martin (pictured) said the firm is ‘excited about the prospects for our commercial real estate practice.

‘Real estate is an obvious area for us. The commercial real estate world is seeing a significant increase in activity levels after a prolonged pretty quiet period. The competitive environment in this area has shown marked improvement from our perspective over the last year or so: the upper echelons of the legal rankings are by no means impregnable.’ Macfarlanes is currently ranked by Legal 500 as a third tier firm for commercial property and construction work in a table dominated by firms such as Berwin Leighton Paisner, Clifford Chance, Ashurst and Nabarro.

Ian Nisse, head of commercial real estate at Macfarlanes said Minogue’s ‘experience and expertise, alongside the existing team of Angus Dawson, Doug Wass, Simon Nurney and Andy Mather, will significantly add to the continued development of our construction and real estate practices.’

The hires come after Macfarlanes this year unveiled a 12% growth in turnover to £114.2m while profit per equity partner was up 9% to £985,000.

Also hiring in the real estate space is LG, which has taken on real estate finance specialist Judith Gershon from Davenport Lyons.

Gershon brings experience in debt, mezzanine, equity finance and bilateral and syndicated lending, having acted primarily for institutional lenders such as HSBC, Santander, Royal Bank of Scotland, Coutts, Barclays, Lloyds Banking Group, Co-operative Bank and Handelsbanken. Before joining Davenport Lyons, Gershon led the real estate finance team in Eversheds Birmingham office.

LG’s head of finance, Nick Turner, said: ‘Judith brings with her deep experience advising some of the UK’s leading lenders. Her relationships with these banks are second to none and will complement our own excellent relationships with them.’

Gershon’s arrival is a boost to LG after the firm lost disputes heavyweight Eoin O’Shea to 1,584-lawyer firm Reed Smith and its financial results this year showed revenue declined for the third year running while PEP fell by 14% from £304,000 to £260,000.

The past week also saw Dentons’ construction and engineering partner Doug Masson re-join regional outfit Howes Percival as a consultant in its real estate team after leaving in 2008. Masson has advised high net worth individuals, SMEs and multinationals including NHBC, Westfield, Sainsbury’s and government departments.

Explaining his return to the firm, Masson said: ‘Howes Percival has always offered City quality legal advice but at extremely competitive regional rates. The firm’s high quality coupled with value for money is ideally suited to my clients, and to winning more.’

Elsewhere, international firm CMS has hired RPC’s head of reinsurance Simon Kilgour to join its City office – a move which managing partner Duncan Weston claims will add to the firm’s ‘big-ticket capabilities.’

Ed Foss, head of the insurance and reinsurance group, added that Kilgour’s ‘work for domestic and overseas insurers and reinsurers on complex, high value disputes and market issues complements our already strong market offering.

‘Worldwide, the industry faces a challenging environment characterised by increasingly global competition, regulatory oversight and a rising cost of capital. Simon’s experience will be a tremendous asset for this practice and its clients.’

sarah.downey@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Financial results 2013: LG’s revenue falls for a third year while Irwin Mitchell posts turnover and profit growth

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Top 25-firm Irwin Mitchell has today (26 July) posted strong revenue and profit growth for the last financial year, while Lawrence Graham (LG) has posted declining turnover for the third year running.

In its latest results for 2012/13, Irwin Mitchell’s turnover was up by 9% to £200.2m from £183.7m for 2011/12. Profit for the group as a whole is £19.1m, up by 3.1% on the previous financial year. The firm’s profit per equity partner is £619,000 – a 9% increase from last year’s £569,000.

‘2012/13 was another very strong year for our group,’ said group chief executive John Pickering. This is a significant milestone for us but the story does not stop here.

‘This latest set of results shows that we are a strong, well-managed business and on that basis, we are confident of delivering further growth in the coming financial year and beyond. The financial year 2012/13 was the year in which Irwin Mitchell became the first multiple-licensed ABS in the UK and all parts of our business are performing well. We are in a good position to grow significantly and to take advantage of the right opportunities when they come along.’

In contrast LG’s turnover was £51.8m, down 8% on 2011/12’s £56m, which itself was a 5% drop on the year before. PEP has fallen by 14%, from £304,000 to £260,000.

Managing partner Hugh Maule said: ‘The headline figures for 2012/13 reflect what was another challenging year. In a number of areas, however, we performed particularly well and are optimistic for the year ahead.

‘Work from overseas clients again accounts for around 40% of our business. We hope to increase this still further going forward.’

Profitability has also consistently fallen since the financial crisis took hold, with net income tumbling dramatically by 45% last year. At the time the firm laid much of the blame on increased property costs trickling through from its move to its More London offices in 2007. Recently the firm has moved to reduce those costs, subletting 20,000 sq ft of space to recently merged national firm Bond Dickinson.

‘Our London property costs again weighed heavily on profits but this issue has now been addressed. All of our surplus office space has been sub-let (to Bond Dickinson and an international property developer). We therefore expect profitability to increase significantly this current financial year,’ said Maule.

LG revenues may have been on a roller-coaster of highs and lows since 2007 but in the last three years its turnover has steadily declined. Overall, turnover has fallen by 23% since 2008.

In June last year, LG and Field Fisher Waterhouse mutually shelved plans to create a £150m practice, with each firm citing different reasons for the split, including LG’s comparatively lower PEP.

jaishree.kalia@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

European movers: Bakers bolsters Madrid office with team of 20 as Hogan Lovells launches in Luxembourg and Wragges takes on Paris team

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Strategic recruitment Baker McKenzieGowling WLGHogan Lovells
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In many ways it is a curious time to be building up corporate and finance capability in the depressed Spanish market but Baker & McKenzie has significantly bolstered its strength in its largely third-tier Madrid office with the hire a local team of 20 lawyers from Mayer Brown’s former Spanish ally, Ramón y Cajal, including five partners.

Two of the founding members of the Spanish firm; Alberto Ureba, co-head of Ramón y Cajal’s corporate team, and Francisco Bauzá, co-head of the firm’s finance practice, are leaving to join the global behemoth by the end of the month.

Other key partners expected to leave include Guillermo Guerra, Rafael Bazán and Fernando Marroquín, none of whom were able to comment at the time.

Baker & McKenzie confirmed the news, first reported by a Spanish website, although said it did not release the news as the firm waits until lawyers are in place before announcing hires.

Mayer Brown entered into an exclusive alliance with Ramón y Cajal in 2007, although the US firm confirmed that this alliance is now over.

Elsewhere in Europe, Hogan Lovells looks set to open in the Grand Duchy after partners began voting on the move last Friday, with a Luxembourg office expected to launch at the end of the summer.

The top 15 Global 100 firm is planning on taking advantage of Luxemburg’s attractive tax status and world leading investment funds platform to set up a practice in that space. The office is likely to service a number of other practice areas and clients including corporate, real estate, private equity and tax.

‘We have plans to open in the country later this summer as there are a number of attractions for us in that market,’ said a spokesman for the firm.

This is the latest of a series of international plans to come to fruition. The firm recently bolstered its Latin America presence after obtaining a license to practice in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo last week. It also took three partners from Chadbourne & Parke earlier this year, including one based in Mexico, as the firm announced it was exploring the Mexican market.

In Paris, meanwhile, Wragge & Co has come back from the news last week that a seven-lawyer team had departed for local firm Franklin with the announcement that it has hired a four-lawyer Paris real estate team from the local office of leading UK firm Bird & Bird.

Partner Constance de La Hosseraye, who will lead the Paris-based real estate team, has joined together with three associates.

Wragge & Co’s Paris joint managing partner, Pierre Appremont, said: “Constance and her team are outstanding lawyers and exciting additions to the firm. Highly regarded in the market-place, Constance has a strong track record advising major French and international institutional investors on the full range of real estate matters.’

La Hosseraye added: ‘Wragge & Co has a compelling full-service offering and a market-leading real estate practice. In the three years since opening, the firm has made a big impact in Paris with its single team approach and ability to provide creative, pragmatic solutions to complex transactions. It’s this reputation which attracted me to join.’

 

david.stevenson@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

UK financial roll call: Wragge & Co, Hill Dicks, Watson Farley and Trowers reveal 2012/13 numbers

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Financial results 2012/13 Gowling WLGHill DickinsonWatson Farley and Williams
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The UK top 100 financial roll call has seen Wragge & Co, Watson, Farley & Williams, Trowers & Hamlins and Hill Dickinson unveil their financial results for 2012/13, with a number suffering a significant dent in their profit figures.

Watson Farley broke through the £100m revenue barrier, reporting a firm-wide increase of 2% to £102.1m, up on last year’s £99.8m. However, PEP has dropped by 13% to £388,000 from £446,000 in 2012.

The 339-lawyer firm attributed both the rise in revenue and the drop in profit to its Hong Kong launch in March 2012 followed by an opening in Frankfurt in January of this year, together with the six lateral partner hires the firm made last year.

Watson Farley managing partner Michael Greville said: ‘We are confident that these investments driven by client demand will generate sustained growth for the business. A strong pipeline of work coming in across all of our offices already bodes well for 2013.’

Elsewhere, top 30 Birmingham headquartered Wragge & Co today announced an increase in both profit and turnover – the only one of the four firms to do so. Turnover was up by 2% to £120.5m and PEP rose by 3% to £339,000, with overall profit at the firm up by 5.5% from £38.1m to £40.2m.

At 332-lawyer firm Trowers & Hamlin, however, global net profit slid by 21% from 20.1m in 2011/12 to 15.8m this year, with PEP down to £307,000 and revenue down to £78.3m. Property contributed to 43% of the firm’s revenue, followed by corporate (30%), litigation (18%) finance (6%) and the remainder spread across other practice areas.

The UK top 50 firm’s equity spread this year ranges from £165,000 at its lowest to £412,000 at its highest, down from £198,000 to £496,000 in 2011/12, while the number of partner globally is down from 56 to 52.

Also suffering a significant drop in PEP is top 30 UK firm Hill Dickinson, which saw its figure decrease by 15% to £264,000 from £312,000 in 2011/12, although revenues increased to £112.8m, up 2% on last year’s £110.1m.

Managing partner Peter Jackson has pointed to increased overheads and international expansion for the firm’s slump in profitability, including its launch in February this year of an office in Monte Carlo to boost its yacht and shipping practices.

jaishree.kalia@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Wragges to cut up to 30 jobs in BPO venture

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In a move that stands out against the recent backlash towards business process outsourcing, Wragge & Co is to cut up to 30 full-time equivalent support roles following an agreement with Intelligent Office.

A consultation has been launched with affected PAs, secretaries and other administrative staff following a comprehensive review of the firm’s back office functions, which was launched at the start of the year.

The firm has also started a TUPE consultation with its facilities team with a view to transferring them to Intelligent Office, which will manage new document production centres and concierge hubs.

The cost cutting exercise is said by the firm to offer its people more opportunity for career development, as the PA role will become more focussed on clients, business development and project managing the demands from partners and fee earners.

Managing partner Ian Metcalfe said: ‘Clients expect their lawyers to deliver excellent advice in the most efficient way. Our people want roles in which they can develop and which offer career opportunities. Having taken a good look at our current model we have identified a number of ways in which we can improve both efficiency and opportunity.’

He added: ‘Neither I nor the board have made these decisions lightly but we feel they are in the best long-term interests of our business. We have to change the way we operate if we are to remain competitive without compromising quality. This is going to be a difficult time for the people involved but we will run fair and open consultation processes, respond to questions and minimise uncertainty.’

Earlier in May both CMS Cameron McKenna and Osborne Clarke scaled back their outsourcing agreements with Integreon.

francesca.fanshawe@legalease.co.uk