Bear Stearns may well be defunct, but the firm still has a mighty hold on its former workers. In a candid article in The Wall Street Journal, it’s reported that roughly 230 women who used to work at Bear Sterns gathered together on Wednesday night to “celebrate new beginnings”. The event was hosted by Stephanie Borynack, a former Lehman Brothers algorithmic trader, at her family’s art gallery in Manhattan. In a measure of how difficult it is to let go of the defunct firm’s corporate identity, one Bear Stearns executive was passing out her new phone number on her former business cards, with “Bear Stearns” crossed out. 

Herbert Smith's redundancy package out

Associates at Herbert Smith are likely to be offered a generous redundancy package, based on a draft obtained by UK site RollOnFriday. Associates who take voluntary redundancy will be paid for their notice period, plus 3.5 weeks salary per year of service, rounded up to a minimum of three years. If they’re forced out, they will get notice plus three weeks salary for each year served, and no three year minimum.