A restructure when it is already too late’

their drawings successively during late 2012 at each downward projection of turnover and took nothing at all after January 2013.

The board considered proposals for restructuring the business further. That envisaged cutting 40 per cent of the staff. There would be upfront redundancy costs but the question that confronted the firm was whether it could continue to service its high-profile clients with a much lower staff. If they left there would not be a business of any sort left. A further meeting on 1 February discussed the firm’s desperate position and the decision to explore other options was taken at a partners’ meeting on 19 February.

The Law Society of Scotland was appraised of the situation and in terms of its regulatory obligations worked with the partners and administrators to protect client files. Legal responsibility for the files remains with the principals and negotiations began to move files and partners to other firms such as Dundas & Wilson, Maclay Murray and Spens, and Anderson Strathern and Weightmans in Glasgow. The Manchester office and staff were absorbed by Weightmans. All these were done over 8-9 March, with the last agreements completed in the early hours.

Clients can take their business elsewhere but so far only five have done so, and most of those have been because of a conflict of interest within the firm to which the move was proposed.

RSM Tenon reports that in addition to the partners moving with their client files and places being found for the 12 trainees to allow them to complete their traineeship 18 out of the 25 le- gally qualified staff in Scotland have found new jobs. It is harder to track the movement of support staff. The partners have had to walk away from their capital invested in the firm.

MacLennan said: “The lesson for law firms is that they have to behave like any other business and keep their fixed costs in line with changes in technology and changes in client expectation. It’s very difficult to begin a restructure when it is already too late.”

The administrators have to call a meeting of Semple Fraser creditors by 7 May.