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Our view...
Clydes, along with Holman Fenwick & Willan and Ince & Co,
was traditionally one of
the three great shipping firms in the City. This wasn't necessarily a good
thing: collision work has been declining thanks to better maritime
regulation and training, and protection and indemnity clubs are -
well, clubbing together to drive their lawyers' rates down as well as
bringing more work in-house. As European expertise in the
field increases, more work is also going to Netherlands, Belgium and
Germany, whose rates are generally cheaper than in the UK.
In view of these changes Clydes decided to
diversify and expand. And so far it seems to have made a huge success of it.
The firm now has 136 partners, who pulled in an average of £500,000 last year
- that's nearly £190,000 more than Holman Fenwick & Willan, and
£75,000 more than City giants Norton Rose.
Shipping is still important, accounting for
20% of the firm's work, but insurance and reinsurance accounts for 40%, making
it the top firm in the country in this sector. The takeover of Beaumonts in
2005 gave it a world-beating aviation practice and added Rio to its burgeoning
list of offices - the firm now operates in
11 countries and makes a big play of its international presence. There are
opportunities for trainees to spend their second or third seats in Dubai, Hong
Kong, Singapore or, err, Piraeus. We know where we'd rather go. The firm also
has a Guildford office which famously pays
London rates. Rather less famously it also expects its lawyers to work London
hours, but given the lower living costs which normally come with provincial offices
this still sounds like a pretty good deal.
So it's now a proper full service law firm,
with the profits and overseas offices to match. This explains why
its assistants reckon they work harder than at the other, traditional shipping firms
- but with targets at a fairly gentle 1430 hours it still compares very favourably with the bigger City
outfits.
The main reason for this is that unlike most
City firms, the majority of Clydes work is litigation rather than corporate - 65% of the
firm's turnover is from contentious work, and it is the sixth largest litigation
practice in the country. Inevitably this sort of practice doesn't require the
level of all-nighters you'll experience at more transaction-led firms, and it's
great news if you fancy ending up as a litigator. But
possibly not the first choice if you want to specialise in M&A (as the
departure of their head of corporate to Ashurst might indicate).
Assistants we spoke to seemed to
enjoy their work and the fact that it's clearly an ambitious, businesslike firm:
although the go-getting, slightly aggressive atmosphere probably wouldn't
suit shrinking violets. Salaries are reasonable rather than spectacular but
many will think that the shorter hours compensate for this, and with seven partners made up this year prospects
of equity are pretty decent. Allied with an expanding overseas network,
rapidly rising profits and reasonably civilised hours it's an obvious choice.
For more information on Clyde &
Co click
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For
more information on Clyde & Co click
here