Biglaw

Biglaw Firm To Punish Partners With Stiff Financial Penalties For 'Bad Behavior'

How stiff are we talking?

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On a far too frequent basis, members of the legal profession see news reports about partners at some of the largest law firms in the world who have allegedly committed acts of sexual harassment, misconduct, or assault against their associates and fellow partners. Some forward-thinking firms are seeking ways to stop this sort of foul behavior from happening in the first place.

One Biglaw firm has finally come to terms with the fact that money is the motivating factor for attorneys to remain within their hallowed halls, and the powers that be plan to hurt these partners where it matters most: Their wallets.

According to Legal Week, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer will be setting up a “conduct committee” and doling out stiff financial penalties for partners who have been warned about their behavior. How stiff are we talking? Here are the details:

According to a person with knowledge of the matter and documents seen by Legal Week, a new “conduct protocol” would mean partners who are subject to an internal investigation process that results in a final warning about their behavior would face an “automatic fixed financial penalty” of 20% of their profit share for a period of 12 months. …

The new conduct protocol, which, according to the person, was deliberated over by the partnership council within the last two weeks, is designed to “reset the collective understanding around the expected standards of behavior” and to demonstrate the partnership’s “commitment to improving our culture.”

In a statement given to Legal Week, senior partner Edward Braham said: “We are committed to improving behavior and inclusiveness. For more than a year we have been running a global behaviors program to drive culture change, which includes reviewing and adjusting our HR processes, governance and systems across the firm. We want to ensure that positive behavior is consistently valued and that inappropriate behavior is called out and acted upon. The plans for a conduct committee and protocol are part of this ongoing program across the firm.”

Will more Biglaw firms be inspired to tie partner pay to behavior-based incentives? If it does something to stem the tide of partners’ sexual improprieties, we certainly hope so. We’ll be closely watching this new program to see what comes of it.

Freshfields to Establish Financial Penalty for Attorneys’ Bad Behavior [Legal Week / American Lawyer]

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Staci ZaretskyStaci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

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