11 lawyers and 24 support staff have been made redundant at Minter Ellison, according to reports in the Australian Financial Review. The redundancies affect most of the firm's offices, however Perth, Canberra and Darwin appear to have been spared the axe for the moment. The lawyers affected were from the property, construction and finance teams.
The slimming down of Minter Ellison's well regarded construction team does demonstrate the fragility of the link sometimes drawn between the Rudd government's infrastructure package and law firm workflows. Construction practice head Ian Briggs told ALB earlier this year that any beneficial impact flowing from the Rudd government's infrastructure boost was a case of "wait and see."
Other firms, including HWL Ebsworth and Deacons, have also had lay-offs in recent months, while other firms such as Freehills and Allens Arthur Robinson have implemented salary freezes. Earlier in the year, Minter Ellison was forced to hose down speculation that it was about to scale down its graduate programme or make redundancies in its graduate intake. The firm today said that no graduates were affected by the current redundancies.
Confirmation of the reports and further comment is being sought from the firm.
Read more about redundancies in ALB's redundancy roundup.