CMS Cameron McKenna (CMS UK) and Dundas & Wilson have placed a combined 60 support staff roles at risk as both firms gear up to merge on 1 May.

The consultation, first reported by Roll on Friday , will see up to 40 jobs at Dundas & Wilson affected, while CMS UK has put around 20 business services roles at the firm and at third party suppliers Integreon, Initial and Xerox at risk.

A spokesperson for CMS UK said: "[The] merger brings benefits to our clients and the majority of our staff, but as with any combination it is regrettably to be expected that there are some duplication of roles resulting in redundancy. This is an unsettling time for those potentially impacted and we will be doing our best to support them over the coming weeks."

The firm confirmed that fee earners have not been affected by the round but declined to disclose which offices would be affected as well as packages on offer.

CMS UK already has Scotland offices in Aberdeen and Edinburgh, established 20 and 15 years ago respectively. The merger will give the firm a base in Glasgow, where Dundas runs a paralegal-led legal services unit which aims to cut client costs by taking on routine work.

Alongside Glasgow, Dundas also has offices in London, Edinburgh and Aberdeen.

The news comes just over a year after CMS UK launched a redundancy consultation that resulted in 37 job losses. The review covered a mix of legal, legal support and secretarial positions across the firm's UK business.

Dundas' last publically-announced redundancy round was in 2012 and resulted in 28 job cuts across its Edinburgh, Glasgow and London bases. A mix of fee-earners and support staff were affected.

When the merger goes live Dundas' Edinburgh and Glasgow offices will take on the CMS banner but will retain the Dundas name for a transitional period of six to 12 months, while the Aberdeen and London offices will become CMS.

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