But it won’t backdate lawyer pay packets
International law firm Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) has finally got round to thawing a post-EU referendum pay freeze it had imposed on all its London-based lawyers.
The firm — which notched up a healthy profit per equity partner (PEP) of £683,000 — fired an email off to UK staff back in July, saying that due to “political and financial uncertainty” it would have to “defer” salary reviews for a period of four months.
Today — true to its word — the firm revealed it had restarted salary reviews which took effect on 1 November. But in what could be seen as controversial move by the BLP big-wigs, it has chosen not to backdate pay to July, when it first implemented the freeze.
Northern powerhouse Addleshaw Goddard and City outfit Gowling WLG — who have both since lifted pay freezes they had implemented back in August — confirmed, at the time, that all salary increases would be backdated. But it would appear BLP’s cohort have had no such luck, and will miss out on four months’ worth of pay increases.
The firm — which was the first to implement pay review suspensions in the wake of a shock referendum result — confirmed that salary reviews would now revert back to normal, taking place each July.
The only other large firms to suspend summer pay increases are Trowers & Hamlins and Bond Dickinson.
Speaking back in September a spokesperson for Trowers told Legal Cheek that it would be conducting salary reviews “this year”. Meanwhile, Bond Dickinson’s managing partner Jonathan Blair, commenting on the firm’s decision to freeze lawyer remuneration, said the firm would “revisit this again in November”.