Pay Cuts for Top Partners at London Firm?
Although at least three quarters of the partners at Ashurst voted recently to approve a change in the London-based law firm’s lockstep compensation structure, many are now reportedly nervous about how the new pay scale will be implemented.
“Around 75 of Ashurst’s most senior partners will see their position at the top of the lockstep come under intense scrutiny as part of a radical overhaul of the city firm’s remuneration system,” reports New York Lawyer (reg. req.), in a reprint of a Legal Week story.
The restructuring is expected to benefit junior lawyers, who can now reach the top of the pay scale in nine years instead of 10, and top performers, who should, at least in theory, see their compensation increase.
Nonetheless, “It is a mammoth task, and it will be a tall order to do it properly,” one unnamed partner tells Legal Week. “A lot of people have grown up together here, and they will end up in different places on the new ladder, which could be divisive in the short term.”
