National firm Irwin Mitchell is preparing to scrap its cohort of litigation assistants in a restructure of the support staff network. A total of 58 staff were told this week they were potentially affected and were at risk of redundancy, although the majority are expected to be redeployed into other roles.

It is understood the decision to remove the litigation assistant role is not related to the Mazur judgment, which stated that unauthorised staff cannot conduct litigation even under supervision.

But the Gazette understands the development of AI for carrying out certain tasks has played a part in the restructure,

In a statement, the firm said: ‘Following a review of legal support we’re proposing to evolve our litigation assistant role into a team PA role, moving some of the billable tasks to paralegals and planning to increase our paralegal headcount.

‘This will improve the experience for our clients, provide clarity and consistency across roles, and provide the best legal support structure in future. We’re committed to supporting our colleagues through any change and will continue to listen and respond to feedback through the ongoing consultations with those affected.’

In August, Irwin Mitchell reported that revenue for the year ending 30 April was up by 8% to £329m, with profit before tax increasing 13% to £4.6m. In the previous 12 months, the firm sold its asset management business and invested in simplified core legal services.

The adoption of AI was a key theme in the PwC law firm survey published last month, with more than half of the top 50 firms reporting the financial and productivity benefits from AI tools.