Sidley Austin and Mayer Brown ask new joiners to arrive early
04 September 2009
In a rare bit of good news, US firms Sidley Austin and Mayer Brown have both asked their new joiners to turn up early. While this is currently an isolated event, it is nevertheless an encouraging sign that some law firms are starting to feel more confident about their short term prospects.

Abovethelaw reported that Mayer Brown had asked half of the 12 New York associates it had originally asked to defer to turn up next week. And Sidley Austin's Washington, D.C. office called all its new joiners and invited them to start a couple of months early - and 22 of them have agreed to do so.

Carter Phillips, Sidleys' D.C managing partner, confirmed “we asked the incoming associates if any would be available to start immediately. Certain practice groups are busy and need people now. Instead of telling people to work harder it makes sense to have more lawyers practice in those areas".

Some good news, for the first time since last October, yesterday

Redundancy programmes are still underway on both sides of the Atlantic and so it's clearly too early to draw conclusions. But the fact that both of these firms had originally asked their autumn joiners to defer their start dates is a clear sign that fortunes may be starting to change.

Several managing partners have recently told RollOnFriday that they are also seeing early signs of an upturn in coporate work.