Law firm DLA Piper to close Glasgow office

By PERRY GOURLEY
Published on 26/01/2013 00:00

LAW firm DLA Piper has confirmed it is to close its Glasgow office within weeks with the loss of 45 jobs. A further 30 staff at the office along with the ten partners are expected to transfer to the group’s Edinburgh base.

DLA had launched a redundancy consultation in November affecting around 250 lawyers and back office staff following a review of its UK business.

As well as the Glasgow office, which is expected to close by the end of April, other roles will go in the document production and defendant insurance teams.

The document production team will be centralised in Leeds,
although small teams will remain in other offices including Edinburgh. The Edinburgh office employs around 10 staff in document production, although it is not
yet known how many will be retained across the business
UK-wide.

A spokesman said: “We can confirm that we will be closing our Glasgow office, divesting our defendant insurance practice and consolidating our current multi-site document production unit.”

Staff affected will be offered enhanced redundancy terms including the individuals’ notice period plus three months net pay.

DLA moved into the Scottish market in 2000 when it acquired the corporate and commercial practice of Bird Semple in 2000.

The legal sector in Scotland has seen a number of job losses in recent years, partly driven by a wave of mergers.

PERRY GOURLEY