Freshfields responded to Bloxham’s statement that he would not be taking his case further by saying: “In order to put this matter behind us, the firm will not be pursuing the claim to recover a portion of its costs, which we had to register by 10 November to reserve our position.”
Dawsons, the solicitors for Freshfields’ former head of restructuring, said they “consider there are potential grounds of appeal regarding a number of legal and factual submissions which have not been addressed (fully, or in some cases at all) by the Tribunal” but that Bloxham is “mindful that any appeal to the Employment Appeal Tribunal may well be protracted and may not bring the case to an end for either party, whatever its outcome”.
Freshfields responded: “We have regretted the pursuit of this claim by a former partner of the firm and are pleased that this case is now closed.”
Freshfields set the ball rolling on a costs claim with the Central London Employment Tribunal at the beginning of the month. Market estimates had put the costs of the case somewhere between £250,000 and £500,000, but the as firm was only claiming costs on the points which it believes are misguided, meaning the potential pay-out was likely to be far smaller.
Following the firm’s push for costs, after another former partner, Lois Moore, dropped a similar age discrimination case against the firm.
The claims of both former partners relate to controversial changes made last year to Freshfields’ pension scheme, which saw retiring partners granted less generous terms than under the previous system. Partners were given the option of either accepting the reduced terms or retiring from the partnership in order to retain the greater benefits of the earlier arrangement.
On both cases Freshfields turned to Lewis Silkin, while
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