Law firm Boies Schiller Flexner is offering more generous pay packages as part of its efforts to attract and retain top lawyers as it battles to rebuild its London office.
The US firm, co-founded by star New York trial lawyer David Boies, suffered a blow in 2021 when Natasha Harrison, the London-based litigator who had been expected to take over from Boies, quit to start her own firm and poached many colleagues.
Harrison was one of a number of defections from the firm in 2020 and 2021, after its reputation was tarnished by its association with disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein and fraudulent blood-testing start-up Theranos.
Boies Schiller recently hired partners including former Allen & Overy arbitrator Tim Foden and litigator Michael Jacobs as it races to strengthen its City practice, whose ranks of 17 lawyers and 15 administrative staff are still down by more than half since Harrison left.
Prateek Swaika, a London-based partner, said the firm had started offering more generous pay deals that brought bonuses in line with those offered in the US to woo new associates.
London partners also said Boies Schiller was hoping to offer more responsibility and freedom than lawyers might receive at other firms.
Foden said working exhausting hours at a previous firm “nearly ruined my marriage”, adding: “I don’t want to play a hand in that happening to someone else . . . we don’t consider that the pay gives us carte blanche to demand complete fealty.”
He said Boies Schiller wanted to give lawyers “a say, and business development opportunities”, noting associates often “aren’t taught how to build up a book of business”.
London associates — lawyers below partner level — can now opt to receive bonuses that take into account the revenue they generate for the firm or continue to receive flat bonuses based on thresholds for hours worked.
The new bonus system, first revealed by the Lawyer magazine, was introduced at the end of last year and is based on a formula that includes individuals’ hourly billing rates, hours worked, and typical salary, among other metrics. The model, which is similar to the way partners are paid, already existed for US-based Boies Schiller lawyers but was not previously available to the firm’s City staff.
Swaika said it was “an important aspect in integrating the London office with our US offices, in order to ensure that associates are treated equally and that the interests of the client, firm and associates are aligned.”
Associates at US law firms are generally paid bonuses based on seniority, and if they hit certain thresholds for hours worked.
Boies Schiller paid associates year-end bonuses of between $30,000 and $165,000 for the 2022 financial year.
Those taking advantage of the new pay structure could take home far higher sums.
Top bonuses under the model can reach into the hundreds of thousands of dollars if lawyers bring in sufficient amounts of work, while those who want to work fewer hours can still qualify.
Boies Schiller’s recent US cases include representing Virginia Giuffre in a lawsuit accusing Prince Andrew of sexual abuse, which was settled out of court early last year.
In London current cases include a defamation claim against the Telegraph, Open Democracy and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism.
When Harrison set up Pallas Partners last year she took with her a string of big clients and cases including a lawsuit against Credit Suisse over Mozambique’s $2bn “tuna bonds” scandal.
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