Leeds, UK-based law firm Fox Hayes has gone into administration (i.e. ceased to exist), with the loss of 115 jobs. Other smaller city law firms specializing in conveyancing work could follow.
Last month, Fox Hayes sold its commercial and private client business, which employed around 40 staff, to Leeds-based commercial law firm Lupton Fawcett . Philip Drazen, Fox Hayes’ managing partner, moved to Lupton Fawcett as part of the deal.
Joint administrators David Wilson and Julian Pitts have blamed contraction of the property market for the firm’s demise.
They told shocked staff that they were losing their jobs on Friday, as was no more money left to pay their wages.
Most of the staff who lost their jobs were legal executives and clerks, as there were only three or four solicitors left.