Ward Hadaway suffers as PEP diminishes by 53 per cent

The North East firm’s PEP dropped from £408,000 during the 2007-08 financial year to £190,000 last year. ­Revenue at the firm saw a relatively small decrease, dropping by 6.5 per cent, from £28.4m down to £26.56m over the same period.

A source close to the firm said: “In revenue terms it hasn’t been a dreadful year for the firm. [But] it’s ­clearly been a difficult time for every firm.”

Last year Ward Hadaway hired six partners to launch a new Leeds office. But it was hit by the credit crisis and had to launch a ­redundancy consultation in September (TheLawyer. com, 25 September 2008).

The firm cut a total of 21 employees, the majority being non-fee-earning staff in the firm’s Newcastle office.