The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A prominent QC has warned that Bahamian law firms will likely be “leaner” following the COVID-19 pandemic as McKinney, Bancroft & Hughes became the latest major player to confirm lay-offs.

Wayne Munroe QC, principal of Munroe & Associates, told Tribune Business that staff numbers at many practices were likely to be reduced following the pandemic “sad to say” because companies were likely to realise they can operate much more efficiently.

Confirming that “all firms are being hit” by their enforced closure amid the national lockdown, Mr Munroe said that while his practice and others were still enjoying “marginal revenue” it was “nothing like the work we previously got to justify the size of the law firms”.

His comments came as McKinney, Bancroft & Hughes, one of the country’s largest commercial law firms with a staff thought to be around 100-strong, confirmed it has temporarily laid-off a number of junior legal, support and administrative staff due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“These are extraordinary times,” John F. Wilson QC, its senior partner, told Tribune Business via e-mail. “I think the only comment I would make is that the decision to temporarily lay-off, and I emphasise temporarily, some of our staff was a very painful and difficult decision for the partnership, and we look to welcome back as many of our staff as soon as possible after this crisis is behind us.”

Mr Wilson declined to detail the number of impacted McKinney, Bancroft & Hughes staff, but a letter sent to those affected - obtained by Tribune Business - said the temporary lay-offs will cover an 11-week period from April 9, 2020, to June 25, 2020.

With the law firm’s offices closed as mandated by the Government’s emergency shutdown, Mr Wilson told workers: “This has impacted our ability to provide legal services and has introduced significant uncertainty for the future. As the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic continues, we are unable to predict at this time when the firm will return to full capacity.

“Unfortunately, and as a result, it has therefore become necessary to temporarily lay-off a number of our staff for a period of 11 weeks commencing on April 9, 2020, and ending on June 25, 2020. You are included among those employees will be laid-off.”

Mr Wilson said staff would be paid at their current rate of pay for the April 9 period, and that this will be treated as vacation pay. Those with accrued vacation leave were asked to take it, while those with no such entitlement will have this “accounted for at the expiration of the temporary lay-off” or accounted for in next year’s vacation leave. Health insurance and pension benefits will continue to be paid.

Mr Munroe, meanwhile, said the Government’s decision until last week to close the Registrar General’s Office and registry of records meant that one of the few business avenues potentially available to law firms - real estate conveyances - had been blocked off. He explained that the registry’s closure meant no conveyancing documents for real estate transactions could be lodged or recorded.

“The only law we can do is the preparation of matters from home, the negotiation of settlements from home,” he explained. “Only urgent applications are being heard on the civil side. The bottom line is that all firms are being hit.

“The small firms may seek to hold the line, but after a while reality huts. I expect to see many more furloughs, many more lay-offs going forward. And coming out the other side of this we are likely to have a reduction of staff at law firms as this time may show efficiencies, sad to say.

“It may show that law firms don’t need the same staff, the same support staff. Coming back out of this, law firms will be leaner than they were going into this.”

Tribune Business revealed last week that Graham Thompson & Company, one of McKinney, Bancroft & Hughes’ major competitors and a leading commercial law firm, had also temporarily laid-off ancillary staff in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

And Branville McCartney, the former Democratic National Alliance (DNA) leader, revealed it had been “heart-breaking” to temporarily lay-off 20 persons at his Halsbury Chambers law firm after not receiving a single fee payment from clients over the previous four weeks.

Mr Munroe, however, said there were fewer jobs that a Bahamian attorney can do “without being in a firm or practice” when compared to their UK counterparts. He explained that private banking, trusts and insurance were some of the few avenues open locally, and added that “the most debilitating part” for law firms and other industries is when the COVID-19 pandemic and associated lockdown will end.

“My firm still has some revenue,” he added. “We’re getting marginal revenue from the criminal side. I’m one of the few full service law firms. We have some settlements outstanding, and some matters we’re wrapping up and completing now.

“The only good thing is firms on the other side have as much incentive to settle matters as they have to get revenue too. But it’s nothing like the volume we previously got to justify the size of the law firm.”

Once the lockdown ended, Mr Munroe said he and the attorneys at his firm are bracing for a surge in employer-employee disputes and corporate restructuring matters that they will have to deal with.