Links’ all-equity plan back in the picture

22 February 2010 | By Gavriel Hollander

The move was part of managing partner Simon Davies’s strategy when he took over the top job two years ago and will see the firm left with a small group of salaried ­partners, known as national partners.

The firm refused to ­confirm the exact make-up of its partnership until the end of the financial year, but it is understood that non-equity partners now make up around 10 per cent of the partnership.

At the end of the 2008-09 financial year, 428 of the firm’s 513 partners were part of the equity, meaning its salaried ranks accounted for just under 17 per cent of the partnership. This is almost exactly the same percentage as in 2007-08, when 440 of 528 partners were equity.

Linklaters said the strategy has been “ongoing” for two years, but it has now been kick-started after stalling while the firm went through its New World restructuring, which saw more than 100 lawyers depart.

“It’s not made public, but it’s something that’s ­happening,” confirmed a partner at the firm. “It could be that the figures have been skewed by [last year’s] departures, but is it ­happening now? Yes.”