Biglaw

Magic Circle Firm Offers Voluntary Buyouts To All Of Its London Secretaries

This is the kinder, gentler way to part with employees.

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For the past year, the coronavirus crisis has ravaged the legal profession, leading to salary cuts, furloughs, and in some cases, layoffs. But some firms seem to have remained completely unscathed by the global economic turmoil caused by COVID-19.

Take Linklaters, a firm that brought in $2,093,569,000 gross revenue in 2019, placing it 13th on the 2020 Global 200 ranking, for example. Thanks to what they learned from the pandemic, the firm announced a permanent 50 percent remote work policy (termed an “agile working policy”), acknowledging that remote working “worked remarkably well” and that employees were able to “deliver high-quality work whilst working remotely.” What are the firm’s next steps to become even more “agile”? Voluntary buyouts for its London secretaries (i.e., redundancies, in UK lingo). CityAM has additional details on what’s going on at the firm:

Linklaters has offered voluntary redundancy to all 225 legal secretaries and business team personal assistants in London.

It is understood there will be no compulsory redundancies, nor are there targets or plans to make redundancies at the firm compulsory.

Linklaters said in a statement: “This is a voluntary programme which we are offering as we continue to focus on innovative ways of working and shaping our secretarial teams to support a more agile working policy for the longer term.” Severance packages will be offered to all secretaries who accept the buyout.

We wish all of the legal professionals at Linklaters who accept the buyout offer the best of luck should they seek new jobs in the legal industry.

If your firm or organization is slashing salaries, closing its doors, or reducing the ranks of its lawyers or staff, whether through open layoffs, stealth layoffs, or voluntary buyouts, please don’t hesitate to let us know. Our vast network of tipsters is part of what makes Above the Law thrive. Email us or text us (646-820-8477).

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Linklaters offers voluntary redundancy to all legal secretaries and PAs in London [CityAM]

Staci ZaretskyStaci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

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