Linklaters hands out bad news for new starters

Linklaters, the second-largest London-based law firm by revenue, is cutting pay for starting lawyers. Adding insult to injury, salary increases will be smaller than ever this year. The firm says it will pay newly qualified lawyers 61,000 pounds ($91,300), down from 66,600 pounds last year. And no more 10 per cent pay rises for associates like last year, the firm is offering between two and four per cent this year. Fellow Magic Circle firms Clifford Chance, Allen & Overy and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, meanwhile, have frozen pay for associates altogether. 

Blue-chip firm Cravath loses balance

So much for the canary down the coalmine when it comes to determining how bad things are likely to get. We’re already there, suggests The American Lawyer with news that the firm that has served for decades as the touchstone for strength and prestige in the legal world has had a bad year. Cravath, Swaine & Moore last year suffered a 13 per cent drop in revenue and a 24 per cent plunge in profits per partner. Even recent graduates cannot turn to the Manhattan-based outfit for security; it’s delayed their start dates.