Scottish lawyers fear for their future as leading firm cuts one in seven jobs

Thorntons Solicitors – the largest legal firm in Tayside with 32 partners and more than 350 staff working in offices in Dundee, Perth, Arbroath, Forfar and Edinburgh – has fallen victim to the credit crunch and the collapse in the housing boom.

Its residential property division, Thorntons Property Services, is the largest estate agent in the area and in 2007 sold more than 200 million worth of property through its network of shops.

But yesterday the firm blamed "unprecedented market conditions" for its decision to shed up to 50 posts to ensure the future viability of the business.

Compulsory redundancies have not been ruled out and all areas of the firm, from lawyers to support staff, will potentially be affected by the cuts.

Lorna Jack, the Law Society of Scotland's chief executive, said: "These are very difficult times and the legal profession, like every other business sector in Scotland, is feeling the effects of the economic climate.

"While some firms are continuing to grow despite current conditions, other sections of the profession, such as conveyancing, have been greatly affected by the current downturn."

She said that a survey of Scottish legal firms at the end of 2008 had shown that a total of 304 staff had already been made redundant during the year.

Ms Jack said: "The majority of redundancies were of support staff and 10 per cent of solicitors/partners."

She added that, though there may be fewer overall redundancies this year, "the number of solicitor/partners predicted to lose their jobs may rise to 25 per cent of the total".

She said: "The indication is that the number of staff on reduced hours will increase, reducing the likelihood of full-scale redundancies.

"Firms are taking a longer-term view, recognising the need to retain the talent, skills and experience of their staff which will be vital in the firms' recovery from the recession."

Announcing his firm's redundancies, Nick Barclay, the managing partner at Dundee-based Thorntons, said: "During the past six months, in common with most businesses, we have encountered unprecedented market conditions which have led to us to facing significant challenges.

"This is very much a last resort and we thank our staff for their tremendous support throughout these difficult times. We have asked for volunteers to reduce working hours or take career breaks, and will also initially be seeking volunteers for redundancy."

In July, another Dundee-based firm, Blackadders Solicitors, announced plans to make up to a quarter of its workforce redundant. The firm, which had 240 partners and staff, shed almost 60 jobs, affecting both lawyers and support staff.

Over the summer, dozens of legal trainees in Scotland had their training posts cancelled or postponed.

And a recent YouGov-Centaur survey of nearly 2,000 lawyers revealed 44 per cent of the UK's law firms have already made redundancies. Sixty-nine per cent of leading partners surveyed said that the economic turmoil will force law firms to change their business models radically.