SJs bonus scheme fuels burn-out debate

If you are in the mood for some healthy debate, take a look at the comments from readers on SJ Berwin’s bonus scheme that are building in legalweek.com’s Talkback section.

Allen & Overy (A&O) received plenty of scrutiny when it launched its new bonus scheme back in October (see blog entry), but responses to the magic circle firm’s new regime are positively benign compared to some of the comments SJ Berwin is attracting.

When A&O decided to ditch its fixed bonus scheme in favour of a performance-related system, the firm made a conscious decision not to link contributions directly to billable hours. In hindsight, SJ Berwin may wish it had adopted a similar policy. Mind you, plenty of senior partners I have spoken to recognise that billable hours provide the simplest way of measuring performance. This measure also has the benefit of a degree of transparency.

Where SJ Berwin has departed from the norm is by explicitly linking the biggest bonus pay-outs to hitting the eye-watering 2,500 billable hours benchmark.

The ultimate question is whether it is healthy for anybody to be billing those kinds of hours. As one in-house adviser observes in Talkback: “Would I want one of SJ Berwin's 'top-level performers' advising me? No, I want people who are fresh, not half-broken by countless all-nighters and weekend working.”

john.malpas@legalweek.com