Herbert Smith Freehills has told employees in its Australian offices that their salaries have been frozen.

In an email to staff at legacy Freehills (the Australian part of the firm), Australian managing partner Jason Ricketts broke the news that pay reviews have been deferred indefinitely. But only for Australians. New salary bands for everyone outside Australia will be announced in the next few weeks. Ricketts denied the freeze was connected to last year's merger with Herbert Smith, and instead he blamed "challenging market conditions in our region". 

Herbies and Freehills: a marriage of equals

 
Equity partners at legacy Herbert Smith might be peeved if the Australian market continues to slide. They've been asked to cough up £2k per equity point to fund the merger's capital requirements which, for over 60 of them, means finding a spare £200k. Legacy Freehills partners apparently aren't subject to the cash call.