The firm announced in April that due to the economic environment it would look to freeze salaries and offer redundancies, only on a voluntary basis, reports ALB. 

Although applications for the program closed last Friday, AAR is yet to confirm the exact numbers of individuals that have opted for redundancy. “Later this week we’ll know the exact numbers, but around 100 people would be a fairly accurate estimate,” a spokesperson from AAR said.

The firm maintains that it had not anticipated the number of redundancies which would eventuate from the program. “There certainly hasn’t been a program like this I can recall in the legal sector in the last 20 years, so there was no anticipation or expectation around numbers,” the spokesperson continued.

It is understood applications for redundancy came from all levels of the firm, not just senior or middle management. The spokesperson added that it was a “fairly even split” across the different practice groups, as well as between paralegals and lawyers.

The motives behind the redundancies were varied. The firm reported that some staff were taking early retirement or a career break, while others were opting to start new businesses or take time out to study. Slowing workflow was not mentioned. “It was structured as a quite generous program,” said the spokesperson.