Linklaters (London)

Our view...

Linklaters is generally regarded as the most blue chip firm in the City. Its corporate department is probably the best there is - it's certainly one of the busiest, with the corporate team bringing in 41% of revenues (£529m) over 2007/2008. And whilst it's traditionally seen as slightly below Allen & Overy and Clifford Chance in finance, this practice group accounted for £465m of total revenue, only 5% behind corporate, showing that it's making huge strides. The firm’s ‘commercial group’ (ie litigation and property) contributed only 23% of turnover.

Linklaters acts for all the sorts of clients you would expect on all the sorts of transactions you would expect. Deals over the last few months include RBS’ takeover of ABN, and Rio Tinto. When Lehman Brothers UK went down the pan 20 Linkies partners in the UK and 20 in the US were thrown at the problem on behalf of PwC. The number of lawyers involved seems to be expanding exponentially.

The firm has also resolved the few niggling concerns over its international alliance and is now concentrating on keeping its grip on emerging markets such as Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Although in May 2008 it decided to scrap its offices in Bratislava , Budapest , and Prague . Linklaters now has a series of virtual offices based in London to cover CEE. However, expansion in the right places is on the agenda and plans are afoot to open an office in Abu Dhabi.

During the boom Linklaters' performance has been quite extraordinary. Profits per equity partner now run to £1.44m, a 11.3% increase on the previous year. Top partners will earn £1.81m. And turnover is rumoured to be increasing despite the bust – and regardless of the swathes of redundancies that the firm has forced through as a result of its cringingly-named “ New World ” strategy.

Hundreds of lawyers and support staff and dozens of partners were shown the door in early 2009 as the firm slimmed down to ensure it could continue to make stellar profits. There were no complaints over the firm’s generous redundancy package, but plenty about the sheer numbers of staff that were booted. And about employees finding out about the consultation from the press rather than from the partners...

The new Linklaters-lite may not have had the easiest run of it recently, but few doubt that it is now in a position to continue to jog along at the top of the City. Those assistants that remain now get pretty much the top pay in the Magic Circle, with bonuses too if they get beasted on the hours.

And most of them are properly shafted. Ultimately these sorts of profits don't come with an easy workload, and however good the support may be this is not the firm to join if you're particularly keen on seeing your home in daylight. There are endless complaints of a crippling workload – “if you’re in a transaction department you can kiss your life outside the office goodbye," says one assistant. There is massive “internal pressure to bend over backwards, sideways and forwards for clients, even if they don’t really mind about a deadline”, and a “huge amount of face-time”. Criticism also for the building - the view of the Barbican has lost its appeal, and many complain that the inside is looking a little too shabby these days. It's even been nicknamed Mordor thanks to its twin towers… Although the fact that it has more than one exit means that “the chance of escape is greatly increased”.

On the upside, partners get praise for recognising the long hours put in by their teams, and one trainee comments that “following a period of hard work (inevitable at a place like Links) you feel like it has been really appreciated”. Another praises his colleagues – “an excellent bunch to work with” – and points out that “even some of the partners are human”. Lawyers get to work on the biggest deals around, there are “great staff, great office banter and lots of free drinks trolleys”, blackberrys with free calls under £1, a cheap and reasonable canteen and the “jelly beans in meeting rooms continue to delight”.

The hours are tough, and this can be a pretty hard, commercial firm. But Linklaters is still one of the best outfits in the world, and offers all the advantages that go with its status. One of the best names to have on your CV.

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