CMS has begun rolling out cuts to its business services teams in the UK, as it continues to focus on the increased use of tech across the firm.
The firm is looking to ‘redesign’ its business services teams to meet increasing client demand for faster and tech-enabled advice.
CMS said in a statement: ‘Following a review of the firm’s operations, we are working to redesign our business services structures to support continued growth. The legal industry is facing a profound need for change as clients want more, faster and with clear evidence that their legal advisers are harnessing technology to add value.
‘This is why we are taking action now. Our ambition is to ensure that the firm is globally connected, technology-enabled and ultimately both easier to work in and to work with.’
Though the full extent of the cuts are currently undetermined, the firm added that it will support business services teams by establishing an ’employee consultation body.’
The statement continued: ‘We are now developing proposals for how business services could operate in the future and have begun preparations for a formal consultation process with business services colleagues in the UK. As part of that process, we are establishing an Employee Consultative Body to represent colleagues and provide a forum for engagement as proposals develop.’
‘We are engaging with colleagues and their representatives directly and it would be inappropriate to comment further while that process is ongoing,’ it concluded.
The cuts come as CMS pushes for more use of legal tech, as the firm rolled out a bonus scheme to incentivise AI usage this April, with staff eligible for up to £5,000.
The firm was early in the adoption of AI, as it implemented legal tech Harvey at the start of 2024, and has also invested in Microsoft Copilot.
CMS’s new leadership team, senior partner Charles Currier and newly elected managing partner Adrian Bell, spoke to Legal Business earlier this year about the firm’s growth strategy, highlighting the pressures that AI has added to the industry.
The pair noted that key to the firm’s strategy have been additions to its new executive team, bringing in chief growth officer Gareth Hughes this September, and its first chief operating officer Christy Farrer in May.
CMS is the latest in a string of firms that have made cuts to their business services teams in the last year, with Clifford Chance, A&O Shearman and Baker McKenzie all downsizing their support teams.
Most recently, K&L Gates axed around 10% of its business services team in July, and Clyde & Co outsourced a selection of its business services roles to Accenture in Glasgow and Manila this May.
CMS is the eighth-largest UK headquartered law firm, as ranked in this year’s LB100, hitting £1.86bn in revenue in its most recent financial results – an increase of nearly 5% from financial year 2024-25.
The firm’s UK LLP saw a greater revenue increase, up nearly 8% to £839.3m.
