Solicitors, architects hit by recession

TWO LARGE Dublin legal practices have reduced pay to their trainee solicitors or told them that they will not be hired once their training is complete, as the economic recession has cut workloads and dramatically reduced the amount of legal work coming from the property sector.

And Quinlan Private, the private equity and real estate investment group, has let 14 people go from its Dublin and London offices because of the downturn in property transactions, it emerged yesterday.

A spokesman for the group said the "regrettable" lay-offs were the result of the decrease in "transactional activity" and should be seen in the context of a business that employs more than 200 people. Quinlan has property under management in Ireland, the UK, continental Europe and the US.

Separately, Dublin architects HKR made about 20 staff redundant yesterday.

This follows a large number of redundancies earlier this year, said by industry sources to number about 50 and possibly more. The company, which once employed 180 in its Dublin operation, also has offices in London, Manchester and Prague.

BCM Hanby Wallace, which has a large property-related practice, told its 15 trainee solicitors this week that they would not be offered permanent jobs at the practice when they finished their two-year period of training between December 2008 and April 2009.

A spokesman for the practice, which employs 300 staff, including 110 solicitors, said the number of trainee solicitors normally offered permanent positions once their training is completed "varies significantly".

He said the company still had "very ambitious expansion plans for solid growth, but we don't have positions at entry level".

Commercial law firm LK Shields told the practice's 30 trainee solicitors in recent weeks that they would have to take a pay cut due to the reduced volume of work amid the economic downturn. Otherwise, the firm would have to reduce the number of trainees at the practice. The firm said that its preferred option was for a pay cut.

The trainee solicitors opted for a significant pay cut. The practice says it has reduced their pay to rates recommended by the Law Society. The firm's 22 partners are also taking a pay reduction in an effort to lower costs at the practice. Some partners are taking a pay cut of more than 15 per cent.

The practice has made three solicitors and another member of staff redundant from the firm's commercial property division due to the downturn in the sector.

Hugh Garvey, managing partner of LK Shields, said: "At the moment, every prudent business is looking at its costs at all levels, including at partner level. As a prudent business, we are doing likewise."

Ken Murphy, director general of the Law Society, said that the fact that law practices were not retaining qualified solicitors was "a sad but inevitable requirement for many, but not all firms".

He said that the society had no figures for the number of qualified solicitors who have been let go by firms.

Dublin law practice O'Donnell Sweeney Eversheds was reported last weekend to have asked its partners to take a 15 per cent pay cut.