CC cuts 20 support staff roles in New York office

Clifford Chance (CC) has cut a further 20 jobs in New York as it finalises a second business services staff review - taking its US redundancy tally to 99 over the last seven months.

The review of support staffing needs was prompted by the departure of 24 transactional associates that were laid off in March. The magic circle firm had blamed "continued sluggishness in the market" for the associate cuts.

The latest cuts are the second round of support staff redundancies in CC's US practice, as 35 staffers were let go before Christmas. The firm in October also announced that 20 associates were being laid off in its US litigation department.

The latest lay-offs represent an 8% reduction of business services staff in New York, which counted 255 members following the previous cuts. CC's 27 business services staff based at its Washington DC arm were unaffected by the process.

All those affected have been notified individually in a process which was completed two weeks ago. Effective departure dates will vary by individual, as will their respective severance packages.

The US practice could face further changes as CC is currently undergoing a global partnership restructuring which will see a reduction of its firmwide ranks by up much as 15%.

The shake-up comes amid a challenging period for CC after the magic circle law firm kicked off a redundancy consultation in the UK in January that placed 70-80 UK associate jobs under threat. In addition, it was confirmed in March that up to 115 support staff roles were to be lost in the UK.

Sign up for legalweek.com job alerts