The cuts, which will see 17 paralegals and administrative staff made redundant over the next few weeks, all come from the re-mortgage department, clients of which include a high street banks – among them Northern Rock.
Commenting on the lay-offs, Dickinson Dees senior partner Robin Bloom said: “We can see very quickly where the market is going and there is no point retaining a lot of staff if there is a decrease in the number of instructions coming through – particularly in the re-mortgage area, where a number of financial institutions have decided not to lend.”
He added: “This is a very particular set of circumstances for non-qualifieds in a flexible area of the business.”
Bloom said a downturn in re-mortgage activity meant the firm had received less work from Northern Rock than usual but stressed that other work for the high street bank remained strong.
The new comes with the 78-partner Newcastle outfit, which recently announced plans to expand in a number of practice areas, having recently installed corporate recovery chief Jonathan Blair as its new managing partner. Blair last month took over from veteran leader Neil Braithwaite, who stood down after 10 years in the top role.