Morton Fraser have become the latest firm to implement redundancies in the face of the economic downturn brought on by the banking crisis.

The firm's private client division has begun a consultation which will result in some posts becoming redundant. However the firm have confirmed that both the Glasgow and Edinburgh offices will remain open, and the numbers of positons likely to become redundant is expected to remain in single figures.

"We are pleased to confirm that we remain committed to not only maintaining our Glasgow office, but expanding it over the next 3-5 years through lateral hires and acquisitions, as the demand for our services in Glasgow keeps growing. In fact, we have recently doubled the amount of floor space at our Glasgow office," said Chief Executive Linda Urquhart.

"In terms of staffing levels, in common with many other legal firms, we are reviewing our business needs on an ongoing basis in response to the current market conditions. While we remain committed to our overall long term growth strategy in the commercial and private client sectors of our business, inevitably, some areas of the business are adversely affected by the economic downturn in the immediate and short term.

"As a result of this, we can confirm that regrettably our Private Client division has started a consultation process today which may result in some posts being made redundant in their division in Edinburgh and Glasgow as their structure is re-organised. We will do everything possible to minimise the impact of this very difficult situation on those involved."