Mishcon de Reya's lawyers will be allowed to take unlimited holiday and work as many or as few days a week as they wish.

Kevin Gold, the firm's Managing Partner, confirmed the news to the Lawyer in an interview last week. He said that he hoped it would make for an easier return to work for female lawyers who had taken time off to have children, and claimed that the board had been squarely behind it.

The only potential turd in this utopian punchbowl is the inevitable caveat that clients are not to be affected. The work still has to be done. Given that the firm pulled in profits per equity partner of nearly £1m last year, there is rather a lot of work. Associates who think they can get all French about things and push off for the whole of August are likely to be in for a rude awakening. Nor does it seem practicable to run a massive piece of litigation on two days a week in the office.

    A turdless punchbowl yesterday

Still, treating staff like grown-ups and allowing them to manage their own time seems a positive step. Even though there's always the chance that staff might actually take less holiday now that they're no longer watching the clock...

Gold told RollOnFriday that  "I hear that many of the cynics and naysayers believe that our policy is somehow designed to make people take less holiday. They clearly do not understand either the sentiment or the hard business logic of our position."

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Comments

Roll On Friday 10 October 14 09:40

Mishcon vies with Olswang for most ghastly little firm in the city so this little PR stunt isn't fooling anyone. How about publishing average paid fee earner leave taken now and then under this amazing new scheme?

Anonymous 10 October 14 10:22

Hmm. When was the last time anyone in a busy law firm managed to take holiday and not affect clients? Having fixed holiday allowances means you actually have a reason to take it - having no fixed holiday allowance will just make it harder to justify the holiday you want to take. No thanks.