Hammonds has secured a lock-in for the next 15 months, it was announced today (4 April).

The lock-in agreement was signed by 83 of the firm’s 85 global equity partners, who will now be committed to the firm until July 2006.

The Lawyer first revealed on 7 March that the firm was considering asking its partners to commit to a lock-in. The announcement of a formal agreement comes after three months of departures from the firm, and news that profit in the UK will slide this year due to an “exceptional charge” consisting of reorganisation costs and redundancies across the UK offices.

In a statement, Hammonds’ managing partner Peter Crossley, said: “Our partners believe in Hammonds. The almost unanimous decision of our partners across all jurisdictions in which we have offices to commit to the firm underlines their confidence in our strategy for the future and that we are well placed to realise the potential of the business we have built. With this commitment we are now looking with renewed vigour to the future and a greatly improved UK performance in the next financial year.”