Clifford Chance will not be paying its partners their mid-year profit distribution to try and protect employees from redundancies and pay cuts during the Covid-19 downturn.

In a 21 April internal memo, the firm's managing partner Matthew Layton told the group's 6,600 employees that partners would not receive one of their twice yearly payouts due this summer. Instead, the payment has been deferred and a new date is currently being reviewed by the firm.