Almost half of Herbert Smith Freehills' Belfast staff are on contracts which guarantee them only 7.5 hours of work per week.
The firm was among the first to set up a low cost support centre when it opened its office in Belfast in 2011. Now it employs over 120 fee-earners there, half of whom are qualified lawyers. However, approximately 40% of the Belfast office staff are on limited contracts which guarantee them only 7.5 hours of work a week. A disgruntled source claimed the firm was "the Sports Direct of the legal world".
The 7.5 hour contract is part of Herbies' "Respond" programme, which launched in 2013 to enable the firm to scale its Belfast team to meet demand. HSF, which was given a £942,000 grant by the NI government to set up in the city, has said that Respond is a positive innovation which staff not only like, but choose because full-time working doesn't suit them. Although if they don't like it they're a bit stuffed, because Respond staff can only take full-time roles if a suitable vacancy becomes available. Coincidentally, Sports Direct presented a similar defence last October when it claimed that its staff loved zero hour contracts "because it's incredibly flexible for them".
Hopefully the grumbles don't signal a return to the bad old days of 2013, when Belfast staff Responded to something by shitting on the floor.*
*Which triggered an epidemic of sorts when an Allen & Overy staffer shat in a soap dispenser, Irwin Mitchell discovered a turd next to a filing cabinet and Keoghs was forced to ban bins.
Tip Off ROF
The firm was among the first to set up a low cost support centre when it opened its office in Belfast in 2011. Now it employs over 120 fee-earners there, half of whom are qualified lawyers. However, approximately 40% of the Belfast office staff are on limited contracts which guarantee them only 7.5 hours of work a week. A disgruntled source claimed the firm was "the Sports Direct of the legal world".
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"Sweet Jesus, 7.5 hours! Poor sods, sometimes I don't have to work all week." |
The 7.5 hour contract is part of Herbies' "Respond" programme, which launched in 2013 to enable the firm to scale its Belfast team to meet demand. HSF, which was given a £942,000 grant by the NI government to set up in the city, has said that Respond is a positive innovation which staff not only like, but choose because full-time working doesn't suit them. Although if they don't like it they're a bit stuffed, because Respond staff can only take full-time roles if a suitable vacancy becomes available. Coincidentally, Sports Direct presented a similar defence last October when it claimed that its staff loved zero hour contracts "because it's incredibly flexible for them".
Hopefully the grumbles don't signal a return to the bad old days of 2013, when Belfast staff Responded to something by shitting on the floor.*
*Which triggered an epidemic of sorts when an Allen & Overy staffer shat in a soap dispenser, Irwin Mitchell discovered a turd next to a filing cabinet and Keoghs was forced to ban bins.
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