‘Chief Happiness Officer’ wanted for top law firm to spearhead Californian work environment and four-day week
- Jonathan Kewley wants to introduce Californian work style to a London law firm
- Mr Kewley included idea in his pitch to be a managing partner at Clifford Chance
- As well as a four day week, he vowed to hire a ‘Chief Happiness Officer’ for staff
A top lawyer has vowed to hire a ‘Chief Happiness Officer’ for his staff.
Jonathan Kewley has applied to be managing partner at the London office of Clifford Chance – one of London’s five leading ‘magic circle’ international law firms.
As part of his pitch, he said he would bring in a Californian work environment and a four-day week to bring joy to staff.
As part of his pitch to be a managing partner, Jonathan Kewley said he would bring in a Californian work environment and a four-day week to bring joy to staff at Clifford Chance
Mr Kewley, a specialist in technology law, is up against the current managing partner Michael Bates, who hopes to keep his job for another four-year term.
Mr Bates said he wanted to restructure the company’s pension scheme, The Lawyer website reported.
Clifford Chance is cutting gendered language from its legal documents by replacing pronouns such as ‘she’ or ‘he’ with ‘they’ or ‘them’.
Clifford Chance is one of the five ‘magic circle’ international law firms and reported a global revenue last year of £1.83 billion, with full equity partners making a profit of £1.85million.
Newly qualified solicitors at Clifford Chance can earn starting salaries of more than £100,000, with many partners paid more than £1million per year.
But employees at some magic circle firms report high levels of stress and long working hours.
Clifford Chance declined to comment on the manifestoes but it is understood the decision on who gets the role will soon be decided by the global managing partner Matthew Layton in consultation with other partners.