Clifford Chance Transferring 300 Jobs to India
According to an article in Legal Week just published in London, Clifford Chance is set to move about 300 support jobs from the UK to India over the next four years, in a cost cutting move that is expected to save about £30 million (about US$57 million at today's exchange rate.)
While the firm is largely looking at accounting and IT functions, the move could affect any support staff, with a spokesperson for the firm commenting: "The criteria is: does this job need to be done in this office?"
My question: How big a step is from asking: "does this support job need to be done in this office?" to asking: "does this professional, fee earning job need to be done in this office?" Especially in a world where large amounts of data can be transferred across the globe quickly, securely and almost for free?
According to CC's managing partner, David Childs (see pic above) :
"In common with many of our clients, we are looking for ways of working that provide a more flexible cost model, greater responsiveness to our clients' needs, plus increased efficiency, and a better business continuity capability."
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