White & Case freezes City pay as profits fall
Added (2009-Feb-10)
White & Case's London office is to freeze associate pay in a bid to cut costs in response to the global recession.
The pay freeze will affect all London-based associates, counsel, trainees and professional support lawyers, although support staff salaries will be reviewed as normal on 1 May, 2009.
The move, which comes after Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer yesterday (9 February) became the first UK firm to break with assistant lockstep by freezing pay, means newly-qualified lawyers will continue to take home £78,000 a year, while a first-year moving into the second year of qualification will remain on £86,000 a year and a lawyer moving from two years' PQE to three will stick on £97,000.
The announcement came as the firm posted its financial results for 2008, with global revenues for the year growing by 7% to hit $1.467bn (£993.5m), up from $1.373bn (£929.7m) the previous year.
However, average profits per equity partner (PEP) dropped by almost 5% to $1.59m (£1.07m) down from $1.67m (£1.13m) in 2007.
The London office saw average PEP in the City falling by 2% from $1.53m (£1.04m) in 2007 to a new mark of $1.5m (£1.01m), while revenues stood at $245.9m (£166.8m) – an increase of 4% on last year.
London office executive partner Oliver Brettle commented: “Last year was not an easy year by any means, and we have done pretty well all things considered. We are firmly aware that the year ahead will be difficult but we are lucky that White & Case is well spread in terms of practice area and jurisdiction.”
Commenting on the salary freeze, he added: “We did not take this decision lightly, but it is a sensible step to take in light of the current market – we will continue to pay competitive salaries.”
The news follows the announcement of Latham & Watkins' financial results, which revealed that the firm's profits dropped by 21% during 2008, one of the largest falls so far reported by a leading US law firm. PEP fell from $2.27m (£1.54m) in 2007 to $1.8m (£1.22m) in 2008. Latham also announced in December last that it was to freeze associate pay for 2009.
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