Dentons has cut Australia staff pay by 20% and partner pay by half to preserve as many jobs as possible in the COVID-19 crisis, it has announced.

For May and June, all 449 staff across Dentons’ Australian offices and patent attorney office in New Zealand will have their pay cut by a fifth; some are required to continue working full-time hours and to take a small number of leave days per month, while others will work reduced hours, Dentons’ Australian arm said in a statement.

Meanwhile all 70 equity partners in these offices have reduced both their monthly take home pay and frozen all profit distributions, which equates to in excess of a 50% reduction in cash flow, the firm said.

“We have taken a conservative look at our profit forecast for the coming months, and we believe the approach we have asked our employees to agree to will ensure we can preserve as many jobs as possible, and come out in a strong position on the other side,” Dentons Australia chair and Australasia region CEO, Doug Stipanicev, said in a statement.

“Our agile business allows us to redeploy some of our employees to areas that are seeing an increase in work, but we also have a responsibility to do everything we can to preserve the jobs of our people,” he added.

Stipanicev said while the firm was in a “strong position” to weather the COVID-19 storm, no one can predict how long this will go on for, or what the overall impact will be.

Dentons is the latest among law firms and practices in Australia to cut staff pay. Others including Norton Rose Fulbright and MinterEllison as well as accounting firms EY and PwC all announced measures to reduce staff salaries and partner drawdowns.

Related Stories:

Australian Law Firms Cut Partner Pay Amid COVID-19 Crisis

Norton Rose Fulbright Cuts Australian Lawyer Pay as PwC Reduces Hours and Local Partner Drawdowns

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