Staff at a South West law firm are celebrating news of a bumper bonus this year.

Stephens Scown LLP, which has offices in Exeter, St Austell and Truro, informed its staff that this year’s bonus will be £3,000 – more than double the amount last year when the average payout was £1,300.   

The bonus applies to everyone, regardless of grade, from secretarial and admin staff up to fee-earning lawyers. 

Managers said the 130% increase is partly the result of a successful financial year for 2015/16 in which revenue rose by 18% to £17.83 million. But it is also due to the introduction of a new ‘John Lewis’ style shared ownership model in which everyone has the opportunity to effectively own a portion of the firm and share equally in the bonus scheme.