Burness Paul has ditched its traditional firmwide bonus payout in the wake of subdued financial results for 2015/16. Revenue inched up 3.9 per cent to £53.3m last year, significantly lower than the 11 per cent growth to £51.3m recorded for 2014/15. And while net profit was down 3 per cent to £22.6m, profit per equity partner (PEP) slumped an even larger 7 per cent from £480,000 to £449,00.

Bonuses withheld, Brexit blamed  

The firm’s decision to cancel its annual bonus is significant, given its history of using bonuses as a way to reward and incentivise partners. After Burness Paul’s strong 2014/15 financials, the firm paid out bonuses roughly equivalent to 7.5 per cent of each partner’s salary. The bonus award was as high as 10 per cent in 2013/2014, and 5 per cent the year prior. However, chairman Philip Rodney believes that Burness Paul is one of the first firms to reflect the ‘post-Brexit shock’ in its results, and that a damper year of growth was to be expected. ‘The results are not what we would have anticipated but for Brexit and over the last couple of months of the year we saw a definite downturn – at first there was anticipation and then the shock of the result,’ he said.

Sources: The Lawyer; Legal Business