Bird & Bird has celebrated its record turnover figure for 2009/10 in style - by slashing its associates' salaries by £2,000 each.
With work picking up across the City, associates at many firms are seeing their pay packets increase - Clifford Chance was the first to announce proper payrises back in April, closely followed by Allen & Overy. The rest are holding their bands at the same level. However Bird & Bird's move, reported in Legal Week, is the first example of a firm cutting its salary bands across the board.
Lawyers will still continue to move up the bands with each passing year of qualification, and the firm is keen to stress that as a result "the majority of our lawyers will receive a 5% increase in salary this financial year". But the bands themselves will be cut by £2,000. With the firm's turnover at a record £202 million last year this seems pretty tight.
A spokeswoman for Bird & Bird told RollOnFriday that "the decision to reduce the PQE bands was not taken lightly, however this decision was made given the continued economic uncertainty and the partnership's decision at the outset of the recession to retain talent and not have any mandatory redundancy rounds".
On the upside, it's managed to free up enough cash for a whizzy change of address announcement... (shame about the incorrect spelling of 'resources').
Tip Off ROF
With work picking up across the City, associates at many firms are seeing their pay packets increase - Clifford Chance was the first to announce proper payrises back in April, closely followed by Allen & Overy. The rest are holding their bands at the same level. However Bird & Bird's move, reported in Legal Week, is the first example of a firm cutting its salary bands across the board.
Lawyers will still continue to move up the bands with each passing year of qualification, and the firm is keen to stress that as a result "the majority of our lawyers will receive a 5% increase in salary this financial year". But the bands themselves will be cut by £2,000. With the firm's turnover at a record £202 million last year this seems pretty tight.
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Scrooge yesterday |
A spokeswoman for Bird & Bird told RollOnFriday that "the decision to reduce the PQE bands was not taken lightly, however this decision was made given the continued economic uncertainty and the partnership's decision at the outset of the recession to retain talent and not have any mandatory redundancy rounds".
On the upside, it's managed to free up enough cash for a whizzy change of address announcement... (shame about the incorrect spelling of 'resources').