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In Barclays Settlement, Is Client Relationship Preserved?

May 24, 2010

The British bank Barclays has agreed to settle a lawsuit with Singapore-based recruiter Pagoda Partners for allegedly failing to pay for a banker it hired from Merrill Lynch. Financial terms were not disclosed.

John Koh, a managing director at WMRC Pte. in Singapore, a finance industry recruitment firm, said it is “always better to settle than pursue the legal route with big clients” because “relationships matter a lot in this industry and it’s wiser to try and preserve them.”

But does this always matter, especially if a recruiting firm has (allegedly) missed out on its fee? While it seems doubtful that Barclays is likely to use Pagoda again, or perhaps vice-versa, what do you think will happen?

Would you have settled in a similar scenario in order to avoid burned bridges in our relationship-intense industry?