![]() ![]() ![]() Workers at the biggest firms, meanwhile, may find that they have a more difficult time progressing up the ladder. Separate data from Adzuna suggests that the number of advertised vacancies in the legal sector stood at 16,807 last month, an almost 20pc drop from the previous year. Harvey says only a “few exceptional niche or replacement hires for lawyers who have recently left” were being brought into these companies.įigures from Atlas by Codex Edge, compiled by The Lawyer, show that the number of staff moving between private practices has fallen off a cliff from 1,400 last October to 745 in March and 394 last month. Many major UK-based law firms are understood to have essentially brought in hiring freezes to now attempt to keep a lid on their costs. It comes amid what experts say is an increasingly tricky market for job hunters in the law industry. “Are they going to realise there are a few too many or areas where they have to trim it down to make it manageable?" “Could some associates be let go?” he says. If not, experts say executives may face pressure to find more efficiencies and address any overlap.Ĭharlie Harvey, a former lawyer at Magic Circle firm Slaughter and May and current director at Stephenson Executive Search, says consolidation often leads to a reassessment of how many staff are needed. US law firm Dechert earlier this month announced it was reducing jobs across the globe, including kicking off a redundancy consultation in London to align staffing levels with demand.Īllen & Overy and Shearman are determined to strike a bullish note.ĭejonghe shrugs off wider concerns over a market slowdown, saying the deal would “actually allow us to grow faster in terms of revenues”.īut, when the two firms finally get the go-ahead for the deal – expected to come in six to 12 months time – the question will be whether the global economy will look more stable. This has even started to trickle into London, where insiders say firms have typically been loath to have to let associates go. Shearman is not alone in cutting jobs, with other US operators including Kirkland & Ellis and Goodwin Procter also trimming back associate numbers in recent months. Fears over the global economy have led to a slowdown in dealmaking, something which a host of firms, particularly those in the US, have been struggling to cope with. However, many players are now bracing for what is likely to be a prolonged period of less work. Such has been the demand for legal expertise that graduates joining elite firms straight out of university – and trusted to do little more than shuttle files from one room to another – can command salaries of more than £170,000. However, it comes at a time of widespread consternation that years of red-hot growth and surging pay may finally be coming to an end. “That is not the plan”, he said, adding: “This is really about growth and opportunity more than anything else.” Shearman earlier this year announced job cuts in a bid to improve its profitability, whilst Allen & Overy has recently been working on an AI bot geared to save time for staff.ĭejonghe rebuffed talk of more cuts after the deal. Wim Dejonghe, senior partner at Magic Circle law firm Allen & Overy, said these were two firms which have been “leading the way in terms of driving efficiencies”. The deal, which needs approval from partners, is set to create one of the world’s largest law firms, employing around 4,000 lawyers across 49 offices around the world. It was a warning sure to send a chill through the glass offices and dealroom bunkers of a thousand highly-paid legal experts.Īs Allen & Overy – one of Britain's five "magic circle" law firms – announced a $3.4bn (£2.7bn) transatlantic tie-up with New York’s Shearman & Sterling, it said that City lawyers must start to deliver “more for less”. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |