A team of 22 DLA Piper staff have turned down permanent relocation from Glasgow to Edinburgh following a three-month trial period.

The Edinburgh trial for staff relocating from Glasgow began in April after the firm decided to close its 85-strong base following a review of its UK operations. After initially making 45 employees redundant, the firm offered 30 further staff the chance to switch to Edinburgh along with the office's 10 partners.

The trial period saw DLA subsidise the expenses of both staff and partners, after which staff were given the option of making the move permanent or take voluntary redundancy.

After the trial period came to an end on 1 July, only eight employees decided to relocate permanently, meaning a total of 67 of the 75 Glasgow-based staff have now left DLA following the closure of the office.

The news comes as DLA sees the departure of another of its former Glasgow partners, with Scots firm Brodies securing the services of corporate specialist Neil Burgess. The departure of Burgess, who joined Brodies' Glasgow office last week, means that six of the 10 DLA partners asked to transfer to Edinburgh have since left to take up other roles in Glasgow.

As well as Burgess, a three-partner restructuring team, led by the highly-rated Yvonne Brady, joined HBJ Gateley in June. Corporate partner Paul Pignatelli has moved to DWF, while head of construction and engineering Gareth Parry has left private practice to join Rutland Medical Centres.

DLA declined to comment.

For Brodies, the hire of Burgess brings partner headcount to 78. Managing partner Bill Drummond said: "[Neil] has a formidable reputation among his clients – ranging from private companies to private equity houses and institutions – having successfully managed and delivered many multimillion-pound transactions and investments on their behalf."

Brodies recently posted 2012-13 turnover of £46m, meaning it is now not far behind Scots rival Dundas & Wilson, Scotland's largest firm by revenue. Dundas took in turnover of £48.7m during the 12-month period to 30 April, down 11% on the previous year's figure of £54.5m.

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