Shoosmiths has issued a half-arsed denial to claims that it is still doing over staff who volunteered for a pay cut six years ago.
The firm took an absolute beasting in 2009: its equity partners saw their average profits fall from £327,000 p.a. to £150,000 p.a. overnight. In a bid to try and shore the firm up Shoosmiths took the unique step of giving its future trainees a choice - either agree to abandon their training contracts altogether or defer their start dates for up to two years with absolutely no compensation. Matters were made worse when two students wrote a spectacularly brown-nosed letter*, clearly at the request of the firm's grad rec department, praising Shoosmiths for its atrocious behaviour. And the firm then put the icing on the cake by inviting all staff earning more than £25,000 p.a. to accept a pay cut.
Most staff accepted this cut, but 10% of them stood their ground and told Shoosmiths where to stick it. Their salaries were unchanged. But the Lawyer reported this week that the other 90% are still - six years down the line - being hammered by the pay cut. Given that partnership profits have now risen to an average of £416,000, that seems as tight as a duck's arse.
In a carefully worded statement a spokesman told RollOnFriday that "every year since the recession, we have increased pay and there is not a two-tier pay system, so The Lawyer article is not accurate". But she refused to give any further comment, so it's perfectly possible that the pay rises have been minimal and there is in fact a three-tier pay system.
*"we are resolved to rise to the challenge of succeeding in these tough times, together", "one of the chief reasons we remain attracted to Shoosmiths is the quality of the way they do things" and "together we will progress and prevail through this economic downturn".
Tip Off ROF
The firm took an absolute beasting in 2009: its equity partners saw their average profits fall from £327,000 p.a. to £150,000 p.a. overnight. In a bid to try and shore the firm up Shoosmiths took the unique step of giving its future trainees a choice - either agree to abandon their training contracts altogether or defer their start dates for up to two years with absolutely no compensation. Matters were made worse when two students wrote a spectacularly brown-nosed letter*, clearly at the request of the firm's grad rec department, praising Shoosmiths for its atrocious behaviour. And the firm then put the icing on the cake by inviting all staff earning more than £25,000 p.a. to accept a pay cut.
Most staff accepted this cut, but 10% of them stood their ground and told Shoosmiths where to stick it. Their salaries were unchanged. But the Lawyer reported this week that the other 90% are still - six years down the line - being hammered by the pay cut. Given that partnership profits have now risen to an average of £416,000, that seems as tight as a duck's arse.
Quack |
In a carefully worded statement a spokesman told RollOnFriday that "every year since the recession, we have increased pay and there is not a two-tier pay system, so The Lawyer article is not accurate". But she refused to give any further comment, so it's perfectly possible that the pay rises have been minimal and there is in fact a three-tier pay system.
*"we are resolved to rise to the challenge of succeeding in these tough times, together", "one of the chief reasons we remain attracted to Shoosmiths is the quality of the way they do things" and "together we will progress and prevail through this economic downturn".
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Anyone cynical might suspect that there was never any intention to reinstate the pension contributions....
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Seriously, how do partners think this is going to affect morale? It's bad enough giving low or derisory pay rises when partners are clearly coining it, but to rely on your staff's goodwill during a recession and then fuck them over anyway takes this to a special level.
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Both have jumped ship to Eversheds. I suppose that they have had their fill of "best quality training"!
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It's a horrendous place to work and you couldn't pay me enough to willingly go back. Partners don't care how this news will affect morale because in several of the offices, morale can drop no lower. Vile brown-nosing cretins succeed there, everyone else gets out as fast as they can once they realise the terrible mistake they've made in joining.
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There is so much movement in the market at the moment that if you want to move then you can.
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Firm treats its staff poorly. Shill says it's fine because if the staff don't like it, they can **** off. Nice.
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Recoveries is the bottom of the barrel. Imagine a call centre, but with worse pay, longer hours and lower morale.Then throw in the added bonus of constantly being force fed utter BS about your (non-existent)prospects.
The powers that be seem to actually believe that the staff shouldn't just bend over and pull down there pants on a daily basis, but that they should follow it up with a shiny apple and a 'Worlds Greatest Boss' mug.
Greed is everywhere, they will do anything to anyone to pocket a few extra bucks. I'm not surprised that they've started to make enemies now.
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I left 5 years ago (best decision I made), I recently heard they pushed a guy out who was a real asset to the firm, he worked all hours of the day & night for them, lived their brand values, & they still got rid of him !?
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From what I hear, they are losing junior - mid level lawyers in their droves. Forever sending staff on secondments to the other side of the country, working Eversheds hours with ex-Eversheds partners but on £10k less pay. Excellent!
Whilst you might get access to "good quality work" and "responsibility at an early stage", what you actually find is that there's a distinct lack of supervision in some areas. If I were their insurers, I'd be worried.
Glad I escaped.
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So be warned if you are a recruitment agency or a lawyer who has been supposedly head-hunted - they will glean you for information and toss you to one side.