City lawyers offered reduced hours scheme at Fladgate LLP

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City firm Fladgate LLP has introduced a voluntary scheme offering approximately 30 real estate lawyers the option to work a four-day work week from January to March this year.

The scheme, is likely a response to the firm, and particularly the real estate team, being “massively behind budget”. Therefore, in order to meet budget requirements, lawyers were given until Christmas to opt in to reduced hours for reduced pay.

According to The Times, property work across London law firms is “especially weak” at present.

The firm has emphasised that the part-time proposal is voluntary, not obligatory and there are no plans to extend the scheme or issue redundancies. However, one source from the firm said that the “implication was that if associates don’t choose this, a number would need to be let go”.

This isn’t the first time a firm has offered a reduction in hours for a pay cut to mitigate economic struggles. In 2020, approximately 200 Pinsent Masons LLP lawyers opted for a four-day work week for 80% of their usual pay to ease the financial burden of the pandemic on the firm.

It appears it’s not only property lawyers at Fladgate who are taking the brunt of the legal industry’s financial struggles, across October and November last year Trowers & Hamlins LLP reduced its real estate workforce by 43 lawyers.