Herbert Smith has switched its former ‘make a difference’ initiative for partner appraisals to more formal assessments on their performance, in a bid to place more emphasis on the firm’s international ambition.
The new system will include formal feedback from partners in international offices for the first time and assessments on matters such as cross-selling between offices. Partners will also be assessed annually against four distinct areas: client skills, technical skills, people skills and how their performance fits with the firm’s strategy.
The move to monitor partner performance more closely follows a change in the firm’s associate appraisal process made earlier this year. It is a definite step away from the consensual approach introduced in 2007 by senior partner David Gold, clearly sending the message to partners that the expectations upon them will be rising.