FoxMandal suspends Delhi salaries, blames cashflow

The firm, which has expanded significantly over the past year, has witheld payment from its lawyers in Delhi. FML managing partner Som Mandal said this was because the firm’s lockup - the time it takes for clients to pay bills after lawyers start work on a project - had increased from around 90 days to up to six months.

“For certain categories of people payment has been withheld for June and would be paid in July,” Mandal said.

“We are pretty sure of resolving this matter, hoping that it should close by this month or at the latest by August. We are looking at alternatives how we can secure ourselves in bridging the payment gap,” Mandal added.

FML’s Delhi office is understood to be facing delays in payment from around 70 per cent of its clients, notably from those overseas which account for 70 to 80 per cent of its billings.

In the firm’s London office, which launched last year, partner in charge Ajit Mishra told The Lawyer: “Everybody has been paid.”

Last year FML also opened two new offices in India in Lucknow and an associate office in Allahabad (story). A major recruitment spree over the year also boosted the firm’s lawyer count by more than 60 (story).