Notice period and penalty clauses

[Eagersol91]

Good afternoon,

I began employment with a local law firm as a Fee Earnee with contractual promise to be given a training contract after 12 months.

I was eventually given the TC and registered with the SRA as promised. However i was required to sign an additional contract which amended the initial contract. The provisions contained in the amendment states that i must pay a "financial penalty / refund" of costs the firm has incurred plus £6.5k if i leave within two years of qualifying. I understand the cost of training course etc is reasonable but £6.5k cannot be proved as a loss. Am I correct in stating that this as a penalty claue would be void and thus unenforceable? If i had known of these arbitrary clauses I would never have agreed to begin working at the firm in the first place. After spendinga year there on lower salary I feel like i had no choice but to sign the amendment in ant event.

The same contract referred to above also states i will get paid 22 - 26k, the market salary for a newly qualified solicitor. Now I have qualified after completing the TC and having looked for jobs, I can see that competitors are offering more money than the bracket, will this not be the market rate. I have relyed this to the firm and also advised non-qualified staff at the firm are paid 25k so it does not make sense for a nq sol to be paid 1k more!

I am due to have salary discussions this coming week and as the highest biller at the firm, i am expecting a good salary. However given the attitude, and ego, of the Partners it is unlikely we will be able to agree salary as they still seem to think i owe them because they gave me a TC.

My next question is that if i do not sign another contract having qualified, would I still be bound by the 3 month notice period as stated in my initial contract as a
fee earner or as i am without a contract would the 2 week statutory notice apply?

Any advice will be appreciated.

Regards

[ULA]

On the first point you raise please can you post up the clause in your contract referring to the

"financial penalty / refund" and costs.

If I am still correct TC's are for two years, personally I would not have given an indication of market rate for a possible NQ position in 2 years time. They are likely to vary over that time and are also dependent on what area the person qualifies into as different legal specialisms do attract different rates of pay. I suggest you do some market research of your own, there are plenty of sites you can look at for this information (not from your work computer!) and provide the supporting documentation at your forthcoming salary discussions.

On the amount of notice you need to give was your contract for a fixed term to cover the period of your training, if so when did it finish?

[ULA]

Thank you for all the relevant documents you have provided and congratulations on joining the Roll of Solicitors today. I am not sure if my post will cross with any communication you have had from the partners today.

It would appear as you say they did not actually fix the term of your TC to the 2 year / 18 month period however, they clearly state that the elements relating to the TC are an amendment to your original contract of May 2015 and that all other terms and conditions of that contract effectively remain in force. Was your original job title Fee Earner? In the firm you are working are non qualified staff generically known as fee-earners and qualified as Solicitors/Associates/Partners etc or is the term fee-earner used to refer to anyone in a fee earning capacity regardless of qualification?

I appreciate your point about not being made aware of the "TC claw back" provisions at the time you took on the original contract particularly as the offer was there, assuming everything was satisfactory, that you would be given a TC. However when the time came the details were provided and you did sign the contract agreeing to them. Although it does not cover would happen about the claw back if they were unable to offer a NQ position to you at the end of your TC? (Just an observation). So in signing the contract you have accepted the terms.

I have to admit to it being the first time I have seen a firm put a value (£6.5k) to what I can only imagine is supervising solicitor/partner time for the duration of your TC. It would be interesting to see how they break-down that cost and I am not sure how easy that would be to argue on their part if it came to it. The other elements are easily costed and attributable to your TC. So if you were to leave within the two year period although you signed the contract you could ask them to prove the loss.

The notice period is not balanced and most contracts I have seen are the 3 months on both sides.

I think at the moment you are going to have to see what offer they come back with and review any contract carefully. They might accept one of your salary proposals, offer you a position accordingly and thereby you may be satisfied to continue your employment with them and so long as you stay beyond two years then the claw back will not become effective. Alternatively if you do decide to leave now or in the two year period you may need to negotiate at least a reduction in the cost for providing training.

[Amethyst]

Now Pam has looked at the contracts I have moderated that post as your redacting of the employers name hasn't worked too well, and you've left the name on the document containing the pay rate so I'd remove them from the site and redact fully before reuploading.

[ULA]

Thank you Amethyst

[Eagersol91]

Thank you for the advice.

I have been offered a reasonable salary so will decide to remain. I am also due to gain experience in commercial litigation so this will be of benefit me too.

Thank you for your advice.

[Amethyst]

Great to hear

Have a word with HR about their contract drafting skills at some point too... always worries me when a Solicitors firm's own legal documents are so poorly written.

Do remember to remove your documents from the photo hosting site as they are identifiable as they stand xxx

Best wishes for your future as a Solicitor

[ULA]

Thanks for the update and glad it is good news with an offer you are happy to accept.

Agree with Amethyst about your firm's employment contracts. Just make sure you have everything in writing in regard to your contract terms going forward.

Best of luck in your future legal career.