Headcount holds level but set to fall in 2010

Lawyer headcount has yet to drop across the top 50 despite a series of unprecedented job cuts as expansion at some firms offsets plunging headcount at others.

Legal Week research shows there were 33,886 lawyers working in top 50 UK firms on 30 April 2009, excluding trainees and paralegals. This compares with 33,109 on the same date the previous year. Total staff numbers across the group fell by around 1,600 to 78,675.

However, the figures mask wide divergences between individual firms, and the full impact of the restructurings at many firms is not expected to register until the current financial year is over. Headcount was also impacted by a handful of firms like Bird & Bird gaining lawyers through expansion and mergers.

Linklaters, which held a widespread restructuring which affected all staff as well as partners, saw the biggest drop in the top 50, shrinking its headcount by 824 against 2008. The figure includes nearly 250 lawyers as well as some 20 partners. The numbers reflect its restructuring as well splitting from four offices in its CEE network.

In contrast, figures from magic circle rivals Clifford Chance (CC) and Allen & Overy do not reflect the full extent of the firms' significant restructuring schemes. At CC, lawyer count went up by 75 over the year, with staff count also increasing marginally. Total partner numbers also increased over the year - though the firm's partner restructuring is expected to result in the partnership shrinking by 15% by April 2010.

After Linklaters, the firm with the next largest drop in headcount is Eversheds, which reduced its staff numbers by more than 600, with lawyer numbers dropping by 131. Hammonds and Simmons & Simmons also both downsized by around 200, with Simmons losing more than 100 lawyers.

Eversheds chief executive Bryan Hughes (pictured) told Legal Week: "Everyone aims for growth in the good times but what we came up against was an unprecedented change in trading conditions. We looked at all the options and if we could have avoided cuts we would have."