City law firm orders junior partners to pay up to £42,000

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Junior partners at City law firm Withers LLP are facing a cash call of up to £42,000, dependent on their seniority, in an attempt to make partners “participate more fully” in the business.  

Withers is the first City law firm to make a cash call (ie, a request from the firm to its shareholders asking them to provide money); however, the firm argues that the move isn’t related to the current economic slump as the decision to issue the call was being made two years ago. 

The London headquartered firm, which specialises in services for ultra-high net worth clients, claims the move is about ensuring partners “are more fully involved in the ownership of the business”. 

The cash call, which will impact approximately half of the firm’s 220 partners, is expected to generate between £2.2 to £4.6 million. 

This isn’t the first time the firm has called on partners to financially contribute to the business – in 2012/13 senior equity partners were also told to pay up.  

However, the firm did note that no changes had been made to the capital requirement of senior equity partners, who in 2022 alone secured the firm a profit of £668,000 per equity partner.