Linklaters to fork out £50m to leavers

18 May 2009 | By Kit Chellel

The firm is offering an exit package of one year’s pay to partners leaving as a result of the New World programme.

It is understood that around 50 partners - nearly 10 per cent of the global partnership - will be shown the door in the coming months as the firm bids to become a smaller, more profitable outfit.

Average earnings per partner were at £1.1m in 2008, meaning the firm is facing a bill of nearly 4 per cent of its global revenue, even before partner capital is repaid.

When the reshaping plan was revealed in January, insiders told The Lawyer that Linklaters would offer partners a “generous” package to speed through
the process.

The source said: “The intention is to spend a lot of money on this. They’ll try and do this very soon and they want to do it in one shot.”

The redundancy package for associates - revealed by The Lawyer in February - is, in effect, five months’ pay plus a lump sum based on time served at the firm.

An associate with three years of post-qualification experience and also trained at the firm - spending five years in total at Linklaters - would therefore get a pay-out of around £64,000.