Last week the Firm Spy contacted the genial AAR spokesman Chris Fogarty in the hope of getting a comment on rumours we have heard that the Allens partnership is presently deliberating over a massive firm-wide involuntary redundancy scheme.

Yes, a new wave of layoffs in addition to the massive voluntary redundancy programme in which 114 Allens Arthur Robinson employees apparently left the firm!

letting the hungry starve

It didn’t come as a huge surprise that Fogarty first demanded we reveal our identities, before launching into a homily that the Firm Spy is cowardly for hiding behind the shield of anonymity, and then finally refused to even consider our request for comment. We invited Chris to send us his thoughts via email and promised to publish them, but we haven’t heard anything yet.

On the weekend, we received the following comments from an anonymous spy:

I wonder if AAR would care to confirm the rumours that firm management told staff last week that they are currently carrying 100 too many lawyers…does this mean that despite “double digit” growth another round of redundancies is likely?????

Good question! Last financial year AAR boasted 3.8% growth in revenue, which apparently translated to double digit growth in partner profits. For the mathematically challenged, this means that if a fictitious partner earned $1,500,000.00 in 2008, they would receive $1,650,000.00 as a minimum in 2009 (10% growth).

Count the zeros! That’s a mother lode of cash … in the middle of the worst financial crisis in history!

Hardly the sort of financial woes that would justify a second wave of redundancies, we would have thought. And yet, like the anonymous source quoted above, we have heard similar rumours from other AAR spies in recent days. We invite Chris and the partnership to confirm these rumours.

If true, is it time Allens staff considered striking? Send the Firm Spy your news and views!

[ED: since publication we have been helpfully informed that Mr Fogarty is not a partner of AAR, but a spokesman for the firm.]

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