A number of contacts have been telling me of late that Legal Business is gaining a reputation for being ultra-bearish on the Magic Circle. So entrenched is this view becoming that one Freshfields partner has apparently taken to claiming to colleagues that LB is talking down the Magic Circle in favour of US players because recruiters tell us to.
Continue reading “We come not to bury the Magic Circle but to save it”
Within days of this issue hitting desks, it will be ten years since Lehman Brothers’ collapse marked what swiftly became the great financial crisis. That event was only the clearest symptom of a disease that had been infecting the banking system for more than a year before Lehman filed for bankruptcy on 15 September 2008.
Yet the process unquestionably signalled changes that have reverberated through economies, politics, business and, yes, the legal profession ever since. By the summer of 2009 the UK profession had for the first time engaged in industrial-scale job cuts, axing more than 5,000 roles at top 100 UK firms alone. Through the lens of the LB100, the profession starkly divides into performance patterns pre and post-Lehman. During the long boom, London’s elite was utterly untouchable. Within the Circle they could falter and scrap for fleeting inter-club advantage. But as far as the rest of the industry was concerned, they were in a world of their own. The initial advances of major US law firms had by the mid-2000s been comprehensively repelled – what chance did mid-tier rivals have? Continue reading “Comment: A decade since Lehman the profession still mired in the New Normal”
Within days of this issue hitting desks, it will be ten years since Lehman Brothers’ collapse marked what swiftly became the great financial crisis. That event was only the clearest symptom of a disease that had been infecting the banking system for more than a year before Lehman filed for bankruptcy on 15 September 2008.
Yet the process unquestionably signalled changes that have reverberated through economies, politics, business and, yes, the legal profession ever since. By the summer of 2009 the UK profession had for the first time engaged in industrial-scale job cuts, axing more than 5,000 roles at top 100 UK firms alone. Through the lens of the LB100, the profession starkly divides into performance patterns pre and post-Lehman. During the long boom, London’s elite was utterly untouchable. Within the Circle they could falter and scrap for fleeting inter-club advantage. But as far as the rest of the industry was concerned, they were in a world of their own. The initial advances of major US law firms had by the mid-2000s been comprehensively repelled – what chance did mid-tier rivals have? Continue reading “A decade since Lehman the profession still mired in the New Normal”
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Linklaters have scored lead mandates on the proposed initial public offering (IPO) of small business lender Funding Circle, while Linklaters advised on the £2bn financing of the Triton Knoll wind farm.
London-based start-up Funding Circle, which provides a loan platform for SMEs in the UK, US, Germany and the Netherlands, announced today (3 September) its intention to issue at least 25% of its share capital to raise around £300m. Continue reading “Deal watch: Magic Circle scoops £300m Funding Circle IPO as Linklaters advises on £2bn wind farm financing”
Allen & Overy has become the latest Magic Circle firm to announce pay increases for its trainees and newly qualified associates (NQs), alongside a slightly reduced September 2018 retention rate.
The salary for NQs has risen to £83,000 from £81,000, while second year trainees can now expect to take home £50,000, up from £49,000. First year trainees will earn £45,000, compared with the previous £44,000 salary. Continue reading “‘Strong pipeline’: pay bump for A&O trainees and associates amid 80% retention rate”
Marco Cillario assesses the latest rounds at London’s big five
The overall number of partner promotions at Magic Circle firms has dropped 10% this year to 89 after nearing 100 in 2017. Continue reading “Magic Circle partner promotions: numbers fall but gender diversity improves”
Marco Cillario rounds up the latest stats as the April deadline looms
And so it begins. The first gender pay gap reporting season has kicked off and for many Legal Business 100 law firms (and indeed all British companies with 250+ people) there is an early April deadline to disclose how much they are paying their UK-based female employees compared to men. Continue reading “‘It’s a promotion problem’: what the gender pay gap figures tell us so far”
