A firm attempting to de-anonymise feedback.
Harneys has insisted that it takes staff concerns seriously, after it was accused of hunting for the identities of a band of dissatisfied associates who complained about their working conditions.
Lawyers based at the offshore firm's British Virgin Islands office recently clubbed together to set out their position in an anonymous letter they sent to the partnership, said a source.
The letter, which RollOnFriday has not seen, allegedly included gripes about long working hours, poor management of mental health, and partners providing "little to no supervision".
But instead of considering the issues raised by the letter, its receipt "triggered an all-out witch hunt" for the culprits, said an insider.
However, the firm told RollOnFriday that it welcomed feedback from staff, and that it has already made changes following a survey of its people.
"We take any concerns raised by our employees very seriously and seek to resolve all workplace issues actively when they arise", said a spokesperson for Harneys.
He said that the firm's HR team was currently completing firm wide staff engagement sessions "and have implemented recommendations stemming from that exercise".
"Our people are encouraged to always feel free to speak up", he said, adding that Harneys "continues to strive to make the workplace an inclusive and collegiate environment for all its staff".
Harneys endured a drubbing in court last year, but there is plenty of evidence it remains the most fun and interesting offshore firm. Has Applebys published a puzzle book for quarantined kids? Did Carey Olsen ever launch an ASS Unit? Exactly.
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All firms say “you can tell us anything,” but if you do, you are finished.
At my firm, whistleblowing is the most serious offence of all.
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Doesn’t surprise me. Many BVI partners have been in the U.K. “working remotely” (some making up for past bad behaviour). While the associates here have been left on their own.
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I wonder when the HK office partner / associate affair is going to break.
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“However, the firm told RollOnFriday that it welcomed feedback from staff, and that it has already made changes following a survey of its people.”
I am sure they did make changes - they hunted down and fired anyone who gave negative feedback in the “anonymous” survey. That’s the only “change” the partners at that firm understand how to make.
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@anonymous 9:44 - I wonder when the HK office partner / associate affair is going to break.
Which one are you referring to? There are so many to choose from. Not to mention the partner / partner affair or the partner / associate affair that lo and behold became a partner / partner affair after the associate’s wholly meritorious (I am sure) promotion
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The fallout from the BVI office wife-swapping incident was all one way. Partner remains, everyone else off to Cayman.
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Reminds me of the Henderson Boyd Jackson trainee revolt of 2003. All of the trainees signed a letter to the firm demanding the reversal of the firm's new, unlawful policy of recouping professional skills course fees from trainees who turned down an NQ position. Head of HR attempted to witchhunt for the "ringleader(s)" and was told by the managing partner to stop it, persisted, and was nearly fired. It was the most glorious of revolutions...the worms turned and then stood firm as one.
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Everyone knows about the affair. As usual, partners untouchable.
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Harneys are the biggest BVI firm and probably the baddest:
- in 2017 Harneys made huge redundancies weeks after hurricane Irma destroyed most of their BVI employees homes;
- in 2020 Harneys made huge redundancies during the pandemic;
- I know someone who has with Harneys 5 times in the last decade and Harneys were never able to decide whether they actually have a job available or not.
Avoid like the plague.
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These offshore lawyers are so third rate. Offshore is a graveyard for those whose careers haven’t worked out.
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@City 11.16
Such a yawn comment. There are useless offshore lawyers. There are useless onshore lawyers.
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Anonymous 09 September 22 11:31: all offshore lawyers are useless. That is why they are offshore.
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@11:31 - your mother is a useless onshore lawyer.
Yawn that in your pipe and yawn it. You motheryawner.
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Amon 09 September 22 12:10: I remember our trainee supervising partner at my MC firm saying to us on day one: "If things don't work out, you can always go to the BVI or Cayman".
How right he was. Only failures want to be postboxes for other lawyers.
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Worked offshore for a year just before Covid at one of the big firms we will call Wa##ers [not an N and K, could be though]. Absolute joke shop and couldn't wait to leave. Third rate "colleagues" with everyone trying to knife each other while waiting for the onshore lawyers to tell them what to do. Actually thought the picture at the top of your article was from their filing room. Have to agree with CITY. Offshore is just a play pen for people with law degrees from non-Oxbridge universities.
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LINKS123 09 September 22 14:17: spot on.
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Why is ROF removing stories about the double charging partner after running a full length story on it. Scared?
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Are you certain that these lawyers work 'offshore'?
What evidence do you have that they do not in fact work in London merely a few doors down from you and just write "Grand Cayman" on their emails for tax reasons?
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“Offshore is just a play pen for people with law degrees from non-Oxbridge universities.” (Some bellend seemingly from Links)
Those offshore lawyers with Oxbridge degrees must be especially crap, right?
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Calm down Shady (if that even is your real name). Few points:
- Oxford Brookes is not Oxbridge.
- no name calling, a little bit offshore, non?
- my department head studied at Newcastle. Good for a night out, not a degree.
I make that .5 pro bono and a jolly good start to the weekend. Thanks for the forum RoF. Keep up the good work!
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I remember when I was working in the City at a US firm and genuinely trying to figure out if I could get hit by a bus in a way that guaranteed I wouldn't die, but so I would be injured seriously enough to be laid up in hospital for a few weeks. To City and Amon 09: in those days I had similar thoughts to you about the talent and motivation of offshore lawyers. Then I grew up. In reality, there are plenty of lawyers offshore who work less hard, and get paid more, for doing less (and easier) work than their counterparts in the City that are still desperately seeking mummy and daddy's (or random strangers on ROF, apparently) approval. The work is not as "interesting", sure, but then perhaps those third-rate offshore failures have more time to go and do interesting things with their actual lives. I mean, you've got to do something with all that tax-free cash, right...?
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Oh dear Linky. Not very bright slagging off your Geordie law boss on here. Perhaps Harneys will have a job for you when it all goes horribly wrong.
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Crickey! No Sex Please, We’re British (Virgin Islands)!
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If your firm's business model is shafting other countries' tax authorities for dubious family trusts, why would it surprise you that it is managed by people who don't give a shit about anyone else?
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Offshore lawyers are like the odds and sods you find washed up on beaches. A sad bunch.
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Anon - It’s a shame you feel that way. What’s your pqe? If you’re not a partner or Silk yet and would like to interview for a secondment to test your views then it can be arranged. Same for Links123.
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@9th @ 15.14 - yes, evidence and questions are important. You are learning!
However, the article refers to a letter, not emails. Pay more attention next time!
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Everyone knows that offshore is for people whose careers haven't worked out. But if they are happy, then so what?
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None of this surprises me. The offshore legal world attracts dysfunctional people.
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As someone else pointed out in another thread: Question Man is now rightly an object of open and repeated ridicule.
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14th @ 6.45 - as someone else posted, the one who is rightly the object of open and repeated ridicule is the person who doesn't know the difference between a letter and an email!
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Anonymous 15 September 22 08:03: the only person rightly subject to open and repeated ridicule is Question Man who, in addition to asking silly, bad faith questions to further an incel agenda, cannot grasp what others are saying. The reference to emails was not in relation to the article, but to the lawyers' alleged presence in Grand Cayman, and whether they used their emails merely as a ruse to indicate they were there. Pay more attention next time!
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Anonymous 15 September 22 08:03: nobody pointed that out - you weirdo.
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Scheme of arrangement in Cayman, anyone? And in HK for good measure.
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It is really amateurish that the Harneys folk continually try to assert a fictitious debate between onshore and offshore lawyers whenever there is an article on ROF about Harneys
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The Harneys wife swapping incident was only surpassed by the Ian Mann conviction for professional misconduct.
https://www.rollonfriday.com/news-content/exclusive-asia-managing-partner-offshore-firm-harneys-has-misconduct-conviction
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Concerned citizen 15 September 22 13:37: it is not a fictitious debate, but a very real one which recognises that practising offshore is for second-raters whose careers have tanked.
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HK Xmas party, anyone?
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What does wife swapping involve exactly?