Success, it would seem, breeds its own problems for the UK’s leading firms. Back in July, when we published the Legal Week UK Top 50, we warned that a combination of ever-higher equity partner-to-fee-earner leverage and an exceptionally tight legal market was stretching firms to breaking point. Well, some would argue that when firms start launching bonus schemes that effectively encourage assistants to bill 2,500 hours a year, such a point has well and truly been reached.
When SJ Berwin unveiled its new bonus scheme last month, it was, no doubt, hoping to score a PR victory in the ongoing battle to attract and retain leading lawyers. After all, it had at a stroke significantly increased the amount of bonuses on offer to its assistants to the extent that the best performers could earn an additional 75% of their salaries and, for the first time, introduced performance measures that took into account factors other than billable hours.
