DLA Piper to lay off 180 in the UK
DLA Piper will eliminate 180 jobs in the United Kingdom as it seeks to move more of its business support roles to its new Warsaw office.
In a Friday post in Legal Business, it was reported that the move comes after a two-year review process where the firm sought to trim down its employee count while beefing up its back-office in Warsaw. The firm had announced in May that it would begin an internal review with the goal of cutting 200 jobs. DLA Piper, in a statement to ABA Journal, said that upon the conclusion of that internal consultation the firm has decided to eliminate 175 employees. An additional four employees will be reassigned, and one has resigned.
“Our collective consultation has now concluded and we can confirm that we will be going ahead with our proposals to reduce the size of our IT, Finance, HR, Marketing & BD, and Secretarial teams in the U.K. as part of our plans to operate more effectively on a global basis and improve the quality, consistency and efficiency of the way we deliver our services to our clients,” DLA Piper chief operating officer Andrew Darwin said in a statement to ABA Journal.
DLA Piper’s move is one of the largest mass-layoffs in the U.K. since the financial crisis, according to Legal Business. The firm previously eliminated 250 jobs three years ago after shuttering its Glasgow office. Additionally, the move to centralize the firm’s business support jobs in low-income Warsaw has been underway ever since the back office was launched last November. According to DLA Piper, it is still evaluating its workforce and could eliminate more jobs in the coming months. In the meantime, the firm stated that fired employees will have access to a personal career coach for three months, and will be offered six months’ worth of general employment counseling, as well as emotional support.
