Class action giant Pogust Goodhead set to axe jobs

High-profile class action specialist Pogust Goodhead is shedding up to 20% of its staff, the Gazette can reveal. Employees were told this week that between 40 and 50 jobs are likely to be lost in London with a similar proportion to be let go in Brazil, amounting to about 100 mainly call centre staff.

The cuts are split between business operations and legal.

Six-year-old Pogust Goodhead has risen to prominence through massive group diesel claims against car manufacturers and the London litigation over the Mariana dam disaster in Brazil. The firm made headlines earlier this year when it pledged that a new equity programme could enable lawyers to earn up to £2m depending on the outcome of big cases.

However, the nature of large group claims – the smallest of the 28 matters on Pogust Goodhead's books is worth £10m – is that there is no a regular income stream during litigation. The firm’s expansion is funded by commercial loans, including from US-based emerging markets investor Gramercy. 

A spokesperson for Pogust Goodhead said: ‘We were established with the ambitious goal of providing justice for millions of people who have been wronged by multinational companies. It is well known these companies have infinite resources.

‘While it is an incredibly difficult decision, it is only right that as we move forward, we position our firm strongly to provide access to justice for clients, both, existing and those in the future. We will be running a formal consultation with staff through a staff representative group over the coming weeks before finalising how many people will be affected.’

Founder Tom Goodhead told the Gazette that defendants have sought to delay cases thinking the firm would run out of money, but litigation funding is in place to rebuff such tactics.

‘We have made a lot of friends and probably a lot of enemies as well – we have deliberately tried to be disruptive,’ said Goodhead. ‘I have said to my staff we have to work harder and smarter and we have in place a runway to do that.’

The London High Court hearing in the Mariana dam case is listed to run into February next year.