Cut-backs cost effective for Norton Rose

updated on 11 January 2011

According to recent reports in The Lawyer, City firm Norton Rose saved millions of pounds and around 100 jobs last financial year thanks to a flexible-working programme and the outsourcing of 60 members of support staff. Norton Rose's accounts for 2009-10, which were recently filed at Companies House, reveal that the firm lowered its salary costs by an impressive £5 million; total staff salaries decreased from £131 million to £126 million over the course of the year.

The bulk of this saving - £3 million - came from adopting its Flex programme, which saw a number of lawyers placed on four-day weeks; a measure that the firm estimates kept 100 members of staff in employment. Savings also came as a consequence of its decision to outsource around 60 members of City support staff to service company Mace Macro in February 2009.