The extent of Farrers' woes has been revealed, after the firm's management asked its associates to raise their game and record just four chargeable hours a day.
The board gave a gloomy presentation to all staff last week. Salaries were frozen, again. Bonuses were axed. And staff were warned that redundancies might be in the offing. Clearly whilst it's jolly agreeable to be able to refer to one's client as "your majesty" it doesn't necessarily pay the bills.
But possibly most shocking of all was a plea for fee earners to try and charge four hours a day. As one associate told RollOnFriday, "Four hours! What the f*** are they doing in private client, trusts etc. if they can't manage a pathetic four hours a day?".
Associates most major firms would not be able to get away with billing four hours a day. So what's going on here?
Farrers wouldn't comment on this point, but a spokeswoman said that the firm had had a good couple of years and hadn't made any recession-related redundancies. That said, "like all firms in the current challenging economic climate, we continue to keep a close eye on both costs and revenue. This is particularly so in the run-up to the end of our financial year and as part of on-going good financial management."
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The board gave a gloomy presentation to all staff last week. Salaries were frozen, again. Bonuses were axed. And staff were warned that redundancies might be in the offing. Clearly whilst it's jolly agreeable to be able to refer to one's client as "your majesty" it doesn't necessarily pay the bills.
But possibly most shocking of all was a plea for fee earners to try and charge four hours a day. As one associate told RollOnFriday, "Four hours! What the f*** are they doing in private client, trusts etc. if they can't manage a pathetic four hours a day?".
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Bad new for Farrers' slackers |
Associates most major firms would not be able to get away with billing four hours a day. So what's going on here?
Farrers wouldn't comment on this point, but a spokeswoman said that the firm had had a good couple of years and hadn't made any recession-related redundancies. That said, "like all firms in the current challenging economic climate, we continue to keep a close eye on both costs and revenue. This is particularly so in the run-up to the end of our financial year and as part of on-going good financial management."