Small numbers of lawyers are being made redundant in some of Australia's largest law firms.
The numbers have, so far, been few, and some might even say that compared to lawyers working in the UK and the US, Australian lawyers are emerging from the financial fallout relatively unscathed.
However, by focussing on lawyers alone, we ignore another critical group falling victim to the economic slowdown - the support staff vital to the operations of a law firm.
In the professional services industry, it's obvious that jobs in the support function - administration, HR, marketing and business development - will form the buffer zone before the fee-earners are targeted in a restructure. It's the first and foremost place that a law firm or an in-house team can shed its costs.
And in many ways, the consequences of job losses on support staff are far more severe than the situation the lawyers face. In speaking to a number of outplacement providers for our feature on page 19, Lawyers Weekly found that it is in the redundant positions of support staff that firms should really watch their strategy and work to truly ensure the best for those who can often be some of their most loyal employees.
More often than not, lawyers will have transferable skills, allowing them to pick up work elsewhere.
For the support staff, such skills may not always be so sought after, and they may find themselves dealing with an increasingly competitive marketplace as more and more of their colleagues find themselves in similar circumstances.
Let's not merely count the number of lawyers facing redundancies as a measure of the impact the current economic climate is having on the legal sector.
To do so would be to fail to acknowledge the full situation.
Let's ensure we consider the value of support staff as much as we <[lb]>do lawyers.
When it comes to cutting jobs, let's appeal to our sense of humanity and ensure this are done with dignity, honesty and a true desire to look out for the future of the individual as best possible.
As Geoff Officer notes of page 19: positions are made redundant, people are not made redundant.
- Angela Priestley
