Credit: Shutterstock.com. 

Concerns around the current coronavirus pandemic have prompted Allen & Overy and Hill Dickinson to release two key partners from lengthy notice periods, paving the way for their early departure to rival firms, people close to the matters have said. 

It means that, after an eight-month wait, Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom finally adds a long-touted M&A partner, while Ince Gordon Dadds gets its new senior partner. 

In hires that first came to light in September last year, A&O partner Simon Toms was bound for Skadden while Hill Dickinson's global shipping head, Julian Clark, was officially announced as listed firm Ince's new senior partner. 

However, both A&O and Hill Dickinson prevented the partners from departing by holding them to their contractual notice periods – Toms' being nine months, and Clark's 18 months.

But pressures brought upon by the COVID-19 pandemic have led the two firms to relent and waive the notice periods, but for different reasons—while A&O's is a reputational move, according to three people, Hill Dickinson's is a cost-cutting one, two other people said.

In November, it emerged that A&O was holding Toms to his nine-month notice period, which would have kept him on gardening leave until June 2020. However, he was released from this obligation late last month. One person close to A&O said it would have been "uncouth" of the firm had it continued paying an "expensive non-working partner" in the midst of an ongoing programme of salary freezes and deferred profit distributions. 

Meanwhile, in February, Law.com International broke the news that Clark was being held to an 18-month notice period by Hill Dickinson, in a move designed to discourage senior partners from leaving for rival firms. Had his original notice period been enforced, he would have remained on gardening leave until May 2021.  

However, according to two people with detailed knowledge of the matter, the current pandemic prompted Hill Dickinson to "take stock" of its expenditures. One person described Clark as an "expensive overhead" while another said he was "a very expensive asset to keep in the garden", so Hill Dickinson agreed to his early departure. 

Clark had been on an extended period of gardening leave, and joined Ince on Monday.

Late last month, Hill Dickinson asked staff earning above £30,000 to take a 20% pay cut amid the ongoing pandemic, a person with knowledge of the firm said.

Hill Dickinson, Skadden and Ince declined to comment. A&O did not respond to requests for comment.

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