News
City law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer—which is currently defending an age discrimination claim at an employment tribunal—is reportedly facing another claim from another disgruntled former partner.
According to newspaper reports, Lois Moore, a mergers and acquisitions partner who left Freshfields last year, is also suing the firm for age discrimination over changes made to the firm’s pension scheme. Her case has been deferred by the tribunal pending the outcome of the current case, brought by Peter Bloxham.
Bloxham, former head of insolvency at Freshfields, alleges that changes made to the firm’s pension arrangements for retired partners amounted to direct and indirect discrimination against older partners. He claims he was forced to retire early and take a cut in his pension.
Freshfields has already paid £24m in severance payments to 25 former partners, but Bloxham is claiming a further £4.5m compensation under the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006, which came into force last October.
The employment tribunal was told that the reason Freshfields changed its pensions system—where current partners pay for retired partners’ pensions—was to alter the “size and shape” of the partnership by weeding out older partners.
Freshfields, however, says the pension reforms were a necessary compromise to fix an “extraordinarily difficult issue”.
Dinah Rose QC, who is acting as counsel for Freshfields, points out that several partners in a similar position to Bloxham voted in favour of the reforms.
