I'm not
@Jaysen, but here you go
@Daniel Boden - the text of the article:
Macfarlanes introduces “radically different” work allocation system
Macfarlanes has overhauled its processes surrounding work allocation after lawyers informed management that the issue should be high up on the firm’s list of priorities.
While firms such as Ashurst and CMS brought in external consultants to kickstart allocation pilot schemes, Macfarlanes is keeping it simple by appointing individual partners within individual practice areas to be in charge of workflow.
Prior to the move, all partners within Macfarlanes were allowed to distribute work, which was subject to a workload monitoring system. Senior partner Charles Martin explained to The Lawyer: “It was pretty informal and haphazard, because you could work on whatever came through the door. It was clearly not the system that could be used as a way to overcome fairness.”
The change follows a firmwide assessment of the firm’s culture and what improvements could be made to tackle Macfarlanes’ poor diversity metrics and gender pay gap.
Commenting on a “radically different” way for doing things for Macfarlanes, Martin said: “We want to ensure everyone gets given the work so they show what they can do. That’s not just a gender issue, it’s a general issue in that some people don’t get their share of exciting work.”
“A lot of the steps you need to take are baby steps. And it’s those steps we can take over a period of time that have a big impact.”
While much of the work that the larger firms have been doing in this space have been about shoring up processes, the smaller Macfarlanes is allowing each practice area to decide how best to tackle the issue.
As a result, not all groups are following the same route, although Martin claimed the firm’s senior leadership team will be monitoring the effects of the change to ensure the measures are working. The private client team one of the few in the firm to be ahead of the curve in terms of fairness in allocation, so they will continue to talk about workloads as a group. In comparison, the corporate department is leading the move towards centralised workload management. One senior partner in corporate, chosen for “impartiality”, has been put in charge of allocating work to fee-earners.
Alongside the changes in work allocation, Macfarlanes has also introduced a series of new schemes, akin to Slaughter and May’s overhaul of its benefits in 2016.
This includes providing a “Macsvac” to staff that have been with the business for four years. The firm will be offering a break of two weeks to non-lawyers that apply, with the firm’s new HR head Hilary Maurice claiming there is already a backlog of requests following the introduction of the scheme over the summer.
At the start of the month, Macfarlanes become the second law firm to release its most recent set of gender pay gap figures in which it was revealed that the average income of a male partner at Macfarlanes is 55 per cent more than the pay of their female counterparts. One of the reasons behind Macfarlanes’ larger pay gap in its partnership is a lack of diversity in its senior ranks. According to The Lawyer UK200, Macfarlanes’ proportion of female partners was the 187th lowest in the rankings. Women account for 14 per cent of members, compared to 20 per cent at Allen & Overy.
There was also a pay gap in the associate ranks of 4 per cent, which the firm largely attributed to the introduction of an additional bonus scheme in July 2017 to remunerate solicitors for exceptional performance. A larger proportion of men went on to gain a reward because more went on secondments and gained an additional bonus.
Maurice confirmed that this process was under review for the 2017/18 financial year. She said: “If an associate has a relationship with a client, then it’s easier to send someone who already knows them.”
“Now we’re thinking about a wider range of people who can go on secondment rather than the first person who comes to mind. We may get the same result, but at least that will be inclusive and broaden the discussion.”
