National firm Parabis Law plans to close two offices, potentially affecting 41 staff, it revealed today. 

In a statement, the firm said it was seeking to ‘rationalise’ its national network, which has ‘mushroomed’ as a result of a series of mergers in recent years.

The affected offices are in Bristol, where 23 people are employed, and Colchester, where 18 people work. The roles affected comprise a mix of legal and administrative support posts.

Parabis is also working to rationalise various sites across London.

Tim Roberts, group commercial director, said: ‘It is not unusual for a business such as ours which has inherited offices on multiple sites and at several locations as a result of merger to rationalise property holdings and concentrate teams where there is the highest workload and greatest client demand.

‘Naturally, this affects some of our people very directly and their welfare is important to us. We are consulting fully and will be discussing options and opportunities. Where roles may be lost as part of this process we will help those affected all we can with their next move.’

Parabis has offices in London, Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool, Southampton, Croydon, Bristol, Colchester, Milton Keynes, Evesham, Edinburgh and Glasgow.

In May, a defendant firm in the group, Plexus Law, announced a merger with Greenwoods in a deal that created a firm with more than 1,200 staff.

In August 2012, Parabis became first private equity-backed organisation to be granted an alternative business structure licence by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

Private equity house Duke Street had taken a ‘significant stake’ in the business to help it grow in the coming years.