Trowers cuts continue with 17 laid off in London

Trowers & Hamlins has made a third round of job cuts since the start of the year, with 17 fee earners and support staff laid off from the firm's London office.

The jobs cuts are Trowers' first in the City, following earlier layoffs in Manchester, Exeter and the Middle East.

In February, Trowers cut four jobs from its UK real estate practice, while in the same month, the firm laid off seven fee earners across its Middle East banking and finance practice. Dubai took the biggest hit, losing five lawyers, with one lawyer cut in each of Trowers' bases in Riyadh and Muscat.

Trowers was the first major firm to scale back on lawyer headcount in the Middle East, but DLA Piper has recently followed suit, laying off eight associates in Dubai earlier this month (3 April).

The news comes just a month after Trowers made up seven new partners, marking an increase on 2008 when the firm promoted four new partners.

The promotions are effective as of 1 April and will increase the firm's global partnership to 117. Five of the promotions come in the firm's London and Manchester offices, with the other two in Bahrain and Abu Dhabi.

Trowers has three offices in the UK and five across the Middle East.

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