6:30am Friday 14th November 2008
By Gareth Lewis
SOLICITORS are the latest sector of the Hampshire job market to feel the force of the economic slump with firms across the region reporting redundancy plans.
Regional giant Blake Lapthorne is expecting to make around 40 staff redundant from its five offices, three of which are in Hampshire – Chandler’s Ford, Winchester and Portsmouth.
It heads a list of firms trimming staff numbers because of the recession, particularly the collapse of the property market .
Southampton-based firm Eric Robinson will see six members of staff from its conveyancing team leave at the end of the month, while Eastleigh’s Knight Polson is also laying off six.
Bond Pearce, which has landmark offices in Commercial Road, said it was “aiming to weather the storm” and avoid redundancies by re-deploying real estate and corporate lawyers to other departments.
The news comes just weeks after it emerged Clarke Wilmott was expecting to lay off up to 40 staff from its offices across the region.
Blake Lapthorne said initially it had expected to axe 43 people but consultations had managed to reduce the number slightly.
Human resources director Alistair Gray said: “The consultation period with our staff is now drawing to a close. It has been a helpful process for all concerned and the overall number of job losses is likely to be reduced by two or three.”
A spokesman for Knight Polson, which has three offices in Eastleigh and a fourth in Botley, said: “The recent downturn in the residential conveyancing market has affected the firm, but Knight Polson covers most other areas of the law.
“The property market and reorganisation has, regrettably, resulted in the need to reduce our workforce.
We have been able to limit this to the loss of six jobs, divided between part-time and full-time staff.”
Nick Page, chairman of Bond Pearce, said: “These are difficult times for every business sector.
However, we are aiming to weather the storm by focusing on redeployment in the firm, for example, real estate lawyers working on mortgage fraud cases and corporate lawyers working on projects within energy.
“We are working hard to ensure we use up any under-capacity to alleviate pressures in other departments.”
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