Kennedys' top-performing lawyers are set to receive a payout after the firm reversed an earlier decision on its year-end bonus scheme.

The decision to pay out a bonus was taken by senior partner Nick Thomas, who admitted that he had '"got it wrong" in March 2009 when he announced the firm would drop its bonus scheme for 2009-10 in favour of a firmwide pay rise.

With the firm set to post an increase on last year's record turnover of £67.3m, the firm has now decided to reward its highest billing lawyers.

Lawyers who have been with the firm for more than a year and have billed more than 110% of their target will be considered for the bonus, which will be paid out in the coming weeks.

In addition, the firm is currently carrying out an appraisal process to increase salaries.

In an email sent to the firm Thomas (pictured) said: "It's become clear that it would be inappropriate for the partners to let the year-end pass without acknowledging that we're going to be ahead of budget, and a significant element of our success is going to be down to a comparatively small number of UK lawyers having worked extraordinarily long hours and having billed seriously above target."

Kennedys, which recently confirmed its conversion to a limited liability partnership structure, launched a new office in Sheffield this year with the hire of a 70-strong team, including eight partners, from Halliwells.

The commercial litigation and insurance firm broke into the UK top 50 for the first time last year with a 30% increase in turnover alongside a 16% rise in profits per equity partner to £350,000.