Minter Ellison Redundancies; Top-Tier Law Firms Succumb to GFC

The Firm Spy has previously reported law firm sackings, lay-offs and redundancies at many mid-tier Australian firms.  Then, as the GFC continued to spread, we reported on the incredible job losses at heavyweights Clayton Utz and Blake Dawson, sending an emphatic message to all Australian lawyers that no one is safe.

Today we report yet another unnerving GFC redundancy development: Minter Ellison has been forced to make lawyer redundancies.

In comments appearing in today’s Australian Financial Review, Minter Ellison managing partner John Weber confirmed that 3 lawyers and 5 support staff have been made redundant from its Shanghai and Hong Kong offices as a consequence of:

softening parts of our business.

Given that Minters is Australia’s third largest law firm by revenue, the second highest by number of non-partner fee earners and has by far both the highest number of partners, a genuine fear must now be held by remaining staff that this latest revision of employee numbers will not be the last.