Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft has made a round of redundancies in London, it has emerged, following on from its announcement that 35 of its US lawyers would be cut in the wake of faltering debt markets.
Between five and 10 support staff from the New York law firm’s London arm have been made redundant, although it is understood the office is strongly resisting any lawyer redundancies in the UK.
The cuts, which are thought to have come among the firm’s secretarial and admin staff, come after the firm laid off a swathe of finance lawyers in the US at the beginning of the month.
Thirty-five US-based lawyers were made redundant in that move, which the firm blamed on “unexpected and persistent volatility” in the financial markets, adding that disruption in the capital markets was affecting many of its clients.
The London redundancies mark one of the first examples of a leading firm shedding staff in the UK following the credit squeeze last summer. Late last year Newcastle-based Dickinson Dees cut 17 paralegal and administrative staff from its remortgage division following the Northern Rock collapse. Magic circle firm Clifford Chance laid off a six-lawyer structured finance group at its New York arm in November.
The news also comes as the threat of in-house job cuts looms at some of the world’s top banks. Credit Suisse last week announced that 500 jobs would be cut from its global workforce, alongside the Bank of America, which has said that 650 jobs will be lost, while Swiss banking giant UBS has already cut around 1,500 positions. When asked whether the proposed cuts would affect their legal teams, all three banks declined to comment.
Cadwalader was unavailable for comment.
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