Reed Smith to U.K. Attys: Play By Rules for 'Partner' Pay
Eyebrows apparently are being raised among the U.K. nonequity partners of Pittsburgh-based Reed Smith over the U.S. firm’s compensation methodology.
Reed Smith introduced salaried partners at its British merger match, Richards Butler, at the beginning of this year to a new pay scheme in which 15 percent of their pay is held back until the end of the year. That, of course, helps provide an incentive to meet collection and productivity standards, reports Legal Week.
Now it has been announced that next year the percentage of held-pay pay for salaried partners will increase to 20 percent, provoking increased grumbling, the article states. A similar pay scheme reportedly is already in effect for nonequity partners in Reed Smith’s offices in the United States.
Says an unnamed senior partner at another U.K. firm: “It is obviously a way of catching out salaried partners who are not pulling their weight.”
