The Lawyer newspaper reports that the jobs will be cut from across Addleshaw’s UK network, which includes offices London, Leeds and Manchester. The firm’s recently opened Singapore base will not be affected.

Difficult decision

Managing partner Paul Devitt told the newspaper: ‘We took the difficult decision, having previously avoided a fee-earner redundancy programme, to rebalance the shape and size of our front-line fee-earner resource to ensure that it’s a better fit for our business and more appropriately supports our long-term strength and competitiveness.’
Meanwhile, Los Angeles-based firm Latham & Watkins has relocated London corporate partner Rod Brown and Luke Grubb to Singapore in an effort to increase its English law capability in the region.
Mr Brown specialises in cross-border, public and private mergers and acquisitions, takeover offers, restructuring and joint ventures, while Mr Grubb focusses on outsourcing and technology transactions. The relocations push the number of resident partners at the US firm’s Singapore base to nine.

Frying in London

Another firm bidding to boost its profile is William Fry. The Irish practice confirmed that it is to have a second go in London, launching an office in the UK capital some 14 years after closing its previous base in the city.
The office will be led by corporate partner Stephen Keogh and will be located in Heron Tower, opposite Irish competitor Matheson Ormsby Prentice.