You have to give Olswang credit for guts. In a jittery market in which law firms are still trying to work out what the credit squeeze means for their business, it takes guts to risk the negative publicity of becoming the first major UK law firm to start making assistants redundant, as Olswang announced last week.
Understandably, the firm, which convincingly stresses it remains in growth mode, is keen to put the decision in the context of a limited move rather than a broader reaction to the market (see page 5). Five assistants will likely face redundancy in what the firm says is a practice-specific reorganisation of a 90-strong team.
