There were red faces at recruitment firm First Counsel, chosen by Slaughter and May to advertise its vacancies, after it posted a pompous and apparently xenophobic job advertisement.
The advert was aimed at associates to join Slaughters' competition team, and claimed that "perhaps counter-intuitively, the firm is not as exacting in terms of its requirements as one might expect and will happily consider lawyers from Australia, New Zealand and Brussels". The generosity! To consider convicts, sheep stealers and mussel munchers!
As well as insulting the legal population of three countries, the advert also took a jab at the rest of the Magic Circle. It claimed that Slaughters is seen "even amongst its Magic Circle "peers" as unquestionably the premier law firm in the UK". One imagines that such Magic Circle "peers" as Freshfields and Linklaters might have a thing or two to say about that.
Graham White, Slaughters' Executive Partner, told RollOnFriday that the firm was entirely unaware of the advert, did not approve its wording, considered it to be clearly offensive and had demanded it be taken down.
Here's the ad in all its glory:
A spokesman for First Counsel said that the advert was meant to make it clear that the firm was open-minded about background but not intelligence, and was in no way intended to be xenophobic. As he rubbed his spanked arse ruefully.
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The advert was aimed at associates to join Slaughters' competition team, and claimed that "perhaps counter-intuitively, the firm is not as exacting in terms of its requirements as one might expect and will happily consider lawyers from Australia, New Zealand and Brussels". The generosity! To consider convicts, sheep stealers and mussel munchers!
As well as insulting the legal population of three countries, the advert also took a jab at the rest of the Magic Circle. It claimed that Slaughters is seen "even amongst its Magic Circle "peers" as unquestionably the premier law firm in the UK". One imagines that such Magic Circle "peers" as Freshfields and Linklaters might have a thing or two to say about that.
Graham White, Slaughters' Executive Partner, told RollOnFriday that the firm was entirely unaware of the advert, did not approve its wording, considered it to be clearly offensive and had demanded it be taken down.
Here's the ad in all its glory:
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A spokesman for First Counsel said that the advert was meant to make it clear that the firm was open-minded about background but not intelligence, and was in no way intended to be xenophobic. As he rubbed his spanked arse ruefully.