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How the process might look


BLM's salaried partners will have to apply to become partners at the newly-formed Clyde & Co, once the two firms merge. 

Clyde & Co's consumption combination with BLM is set to go live on 1 July. But BLM’s salaried partners will not automatically become salaried partners in the newly-engorged firm.

Subject to consultation, BLM's salaried partners will 'TUPE over' as salaried partners, and then face three options. The default position will be for them to become a legal director; alternatively they can apply via a recruitment process to become a Clydes salaried partner (although this new role will only be available in the firm's Casualty insurance practice); or they can choose to put themselves forward to be an equity partner, under a separate process. 

Any BLM salaried partner who does not wish to accept the default legal director position, and is not offered partnership, will be subject to a redundancy process.

There are around 140 salaried partners at BLM, and about 40-50 equity partners. The vast majority of BLM salaried partners are expected to join the Casualty insurance group of the new entity. Part of the strategic thinking by Clydes for the merger, was to effectively knock out one of its key competitors for Casualty work on panel pitches, and create the biggest Casualty team in the land.

It is understood that BLM salaried partners who become legal directors will have a change of their terms and conditions. The exact details of this are unknown, so it may or may not preclude them from access to top secret oak-panelled partners' luxury bathrooms. 

A Clyde & Co spokesman told RollOnFriday: "We can confirm that a consultation process has started involving BLM’s Salaried Partners ahead of our merger with them going live on 1 July. While the vast majority of our BLM colleagues’ roles will transfer to Clyde & Co, we do not have a role equivalent to that of a BLM salaried partner at the firm. As such it is proposed that all salaried partners will become Legal Directors and in parallel are given the chance to apply for a new Clyde & Co salaried partner role that will exist only in our casualty practice, or for the role of Partner. We appreciate this is a disruptive and potentially unsettling time for the individuals involved and we will be supporting them through the consultation process. As the consultation is ongoing it would be inappropriate to comment further." 

The spokesman added: "We are excited about realising the benefits of our merger for our clients and our people. We are creating the largest casualty insurance practice in the UK and will have the ability invest in technology, provide clients with access to the largest dataset in the industry, and go to market as a whole-of-market, and truly national provider of legal services to the insurance sector."

Another main change will be that the newly-formed Clydes will consolidate most of BLM's Liverpool and Manchester offices into one main hub in Manchester. 

A source told RollOnFriday that BLM had been considering this consolidation before the merger talks, as the Liverpool office lease is set to expire soon, and BLM was already evaluating whether it could justify having both offices. 

The move means that the majority of staff in BLM’s Liverpool office (save for a claims management team of about 15 people) will be subject to a redundancy process. RollOnFriday understands that virtually all the affected Liverpool staff will be offered the same role in Manchester.

Although spare a thought for any Liverpool FC supporters in that group who, having lost the league to Manchester City, are now considering the prospect of relocating to an office which might have Jack Grealish posters on the wall. 

A BLM spokeswoman told RollOnFriday: "We can confirm that as part of the TUPE consultation consequent upon the merger with Clyde & Co, we are also in consultation with BLM colleagues based in Liverpool as on a proposal to close the current office and reduce our footprint in the city significantly.  This follows on from our comprehensive property review." 

"We are pleased that, subject to consultation, the majority of our staff based there will be offered roles in Manchester on a hybrid working basis. We are mindful that this is a disruptive time and may be concerning for the individuals involved and we will be supporting them through the consultation and integration process. As it is ongoing, it would be inappropriate to comment further at this time."

Tip Off ROF

Comments

Anonymous 27 May 22 10:25

There's no top secret oak-panelled partners' luxury bathrooms.  They share the same toilets used by the plebs.

RD 27 May 22 10:57

What’s happening with the trainees? The calibre of someone who got a TC at BLM is very different than the calibre who get them at C&C. Surely C&C won’t be taking on BLM trainees?

Anonymous 27 May 22 11:16

re: RD - the trainees are probably the most secure of all class of staff at BLm right now. Its awful for Liverpool staff and nothing said can dress up that hurt - with Liverpool gone that really is the end of the good ole Lace Mawer!  

Name 27 May 22 11:21

@RD 27 May 22 10:57

Axing trainees mid-TC would have a terrible reputational (and possibly regulatory) impact which is why it basically never happens.

Trainee 27 May 22 11:21

I’m a C&C trainee and I can assure you we are not happy having our ranks watered down. However, it won’t be for long: those poor souls won’t stand a chance when it’s NQ interview time. 

Anonymous 27 May 22 11:34

I really don't see this as such a big deal. Being an employee is being an employee, whether you're called Salaried Partner or Legal Director. 

With regard to the trainees, some of the comments are just delusional. There is very little, if any, difference between the calibre of trainees in any UK Top 50 law firm outside of the Magic Circle. 

@Trainee 11.21 27 May 22 11:51

Sounds like you'll be one of the first to go. 'Ranks watered down', give me strength...

Anonymous 27 May 22 11:53

re: Clyde trainee - be kind - saying that with that level of hate/envy you will turn out to be a great insurance lawyer.  Welcome to the MOJ Portal  

Anon 27 May 22 12:09

Glad to see the integration and warm welcome is going well: 
 

“I’m a C&C trainee and I can assure you we are not happy having our ranks watered down. However, it won’t be for long: those poor souls won’t stand a chance when it’s NQ interview time.”

Get over yourself.  The exposure BLM trainees get to work in casualty and other insurance areas will be for the same clients and same panels and comparable mandates as you do, hence the whole point of the merger.   You may also find you learn a think or two from their approach to MI and handling this type of work, which they have done for a lot longer than Clydes.  

Lol at Clydes Trainee Magnificence 27 May 22 12:16

Can’t help but chuckle at the idea that Clydes trainees are a world class bunch.

“Why did you join Clyde & Co?”

“While in my second year at university I became deeply passionate about shipping and insurance.”

“Why did you really join Clyde & Co?”

“All the magic circle, US and silver circle forms turned me down, as did the rest of the top 30 national firms / I was a paralegal there for half a century and they finally relented and offered me a TC.”

Offshore Idiot 27 May 22 12:21

@RD 27 May 22 10:57

"...the calibre of someone who got a TC at BLM is very different than the calibre who get them at C&C. Surely C&C won’t be taking on BLM trainees?"

...mate, it's only Clyde & Co. 

ex SP 27 May 22 12:55

"I really don't see this as such a big deal. Being an employee is being an employee, whether you're called Salaried Partner or Legal Director."

Bit of a difference to the outside world between "Partner" and "Not a Partner" though. 

(To the extent such optics are relevant to your particular line or work / CV / future employers.)

Anonymous 27 May 22 13:21

"The calibre of someone who got a TC at BLM is very different than the calibre who get them at C&C. Surely C&C won’t be taking on BLM trainees?"

I suspect that they will be mainly used for janitorial duties. In the aforementioned oak-panelled bathrooms, for example.

That or used for similarly worthwhile activities such as the fetching of tea, acting as makeshift coffee tables, or merely being hunted for sport in the grounds.

All will no doubt be required to give regular donations of their blood so that their C&Co peers can drink it for nourishment during particularly long sessions of document reviewing, keeping their eyes functioning at peak efficiency through the dark hours long after even the longest of candles have burned to tallow.

Such is the unhappy lot of the indentured serf.

Anon 27 May 22 14:00

Poor Clydes trainee… must be a first year as they haven’t realised yet that the best thing they can do for themselves and their career is get the hell out of that place asap. 

Anon 27 May 22 14:08

BLM's trainees might be homeless before the merger actually happens.

They've just been excluded from the firm wide pay review because apparently none of them have mortgages, children, and other bills like the rest of us.

Unless something drastic changes I imagine they will simply start dropping like flies.. or is that the plan?

Anonymous 27 May 22 15:12

@13:57 - but that I were a tax lawyer, given that they are the highest paid of our kind in all the land.

Fat and plump they grow from commission based arrangements with their clients in which they are entitled to be paid a percentage of the total tax deduction that they achieve.

The only downside is the inevitable pallid complexion that results from hours tucked deep in the bowels of libraries filled with books too boring even for spiders to nest in. Leaving them looking like vast waddling mozzarella burrata.

A flawed life, but a happy one. Would that you and I should be so lucky.

 

 

Now, if you will excuse me, I have a regularly scheduled blood donation appointment to attend.

@ Anon 14.08 27 May 22 15:48

It's not just the trainees excluded from pay review. 

And to you final comment - that's absolutely the plan; to try and encourage as much 'natural wastage' as possible before the great fire sale to Houndsditch. 

BLM trainees 27 May 22 18:02

I have to say, as Trainees at BLM we are looking forward to joining Clyde and Co and to showing just how talented and hard working we actually are. We are going to surprise a few people I can tell you. Anyone who thinks we are somehow second rate had better watch out. We aren’t to be missed with. 

ShootyOriginal 27 May 22 18:37

Anon 27 May 22 14:59

You are the weakest link, goodbye.

------------------------

Dude/ Dudette (not assuming), thanks for the flashback. I remember around 2001, I was in a Cradley Heath County Court making an application to make a private hearing public, so we could sit in and listen to someone describe their finances. Long story. 

Shooty: "... and that's my applicaiton, sir".

Judge: "Is that it?

Shooty: "Yes, sir"

Judge: "Application refused. You are the weakest link. Goodbye."

I can look back and laugh now.

It only stings a little.

BLM trainee 27 May 22 18:54

BLM trainee here! Very shocked at the opinions of some of the Clyde and Co trainees. All of my BLM peers were looking forward to expanding our trainee intake and meeting new colleagues. Some of us have been offered to qualify early into NQ jobs so I don’t think we will be “poor souls” :) 

Anon 27 May 22 20:06

@18:54

I wouldn’t worry.  I think those comments are from people who are taking the piss.  There’s no chance a genuine Clyde & Co trainee has that high an opinion of themselves.  

Clyde & Co Manchester 27 May 22 20:22

I'm already at Clyde & Co Manchester, but if I see any Jack Grealish posters on the wall, I'll leave 

Anonymous 27 May 22 20:36

LOL gutted! Most of the salaried partners will have to pull their fingers out their asses and actually WORK! 

Deadly Nightshade 27 May 22 20:44

BLM SP here.  Have been hearing all week about the "positive integration plan" to be put in place. Bit sceptical, I'm older and quite cynical these days. Not looking forward to re-applying for my current role but aiming to make the best of it and keep an open mind.  

However, reading some of these comments - what a nice warm welcome we can look forward to from Clydes' sneering trainees. Can't wait. Will we have to bow to you, O Special Ones?

X 27 May 22 20:44

This was expected- many were naive and expected pay rises. The equity Ps were stealing clients from the SPs before the merger to justify their worth. Only the trainees will do well off this

Anon 27 May 22 21:16

Hilarious seeing how venomous and hostile some of these Clydes trainees are towards their future colleagues.
 

The reality is that BLM and Clydes trainees likely attended the same universities, did the same vac schemes and have had almost identical training experience to date. Whilst BLM’s issues are well-publicised, it doesn’t change the fact that the training received by BLM’s trainees will be at least on par with that of those Clydes, if not superior in certain areas of law. 

Many of BLM’s trainees benefit from extensive paralegal experience and would be satisfied with lower wages (given BLM’s historic inability to offer a competitive market rate), so whilst Clydes is a more profitable (and arguably reputable firm), it’s trainees should not be complacent and presume they they’ll have the edge over any future colleagues from BLM. 

Anonymous 27 May 22 21:18

It's absolutely appalling how the BLM staff have been treated so far re redundancy. We were looking forward to the merger aka takeover until now. I for one will be glad to leave especially given some of the snotty comments above!

Presumably 27 May 22 22:20

Trainees at Clyde & Co and BLM should get on famously as both tried and failed to get in somewhere better? 

SP 27 May 22 22:21

Most of the SPs at BLM bring no work in- they have zero clients and either got promo for time served or purely off the back of favouritism- very few had a business case and fed off generic inboxes where clients sent work to. This was one of many failures of the BLM- there was zero leadership, management and a lack of business acumen from the top. The Senior and Managing Partner were useless. There were EPs billing less than paralegals on an annual basis- there was too much dead wood and a cull should have been made years ago on a weekly basis some SPs were sending out capacity emails asking for work The BLM Eps we’re desperate for this takeover to save their bacon… shame people will lose their jobs off the back of this.

Anon. 28 May 22 00:11

It certainly didn't take long for the wheels to come off and for the mud slinging to start.

Anonymous 28 May 22 10:40

BLM are failing during another redundancy process. As per usual zero management or show of strength from “leadership”. Senior and managing partner are clueless as per usual and utterly useless. Good for C&C making the dead weight partners reapply for roles! 

Anonymous 28 May 22 11:09

Also let's be sensible for a moment.

These firms are heavily dependent on panel appointments. Few partners have portable books of business in that sphere.  This is about insurers wanting streamlined panels.

ANON 28 May 22 13:46

I just can't get out of Black Life Matters! and get more angery, especially to the ignorance expressed by the C&C trainee....

Anon 28 May 22 14:43

Clydes trainees in London who will be qualifying into areas that BLM used to practise will be entering an insurance sector where the pressure on rates and reducing costs means most of the work is being shipped out to the regions anyway, so they are about to qualify into an area where there is no real future.  
 

As for BLM, and as said above, it is on many of the same panels as Clydes for the same clients and also on panels Clydes couldn’t get on.   I bet its income for insurance work is comparable to Clydes’ and it’s experience with MI and being integrated with insurers is something Clydes could learn from.   Clydes only pays more and is bigger because it has more profitable areas outside defendant insurance litigation.  If you strip that out, and look at the BLG legacy teams then I really don’t think there is much difference at all between Clydes, BLM, Kennedys, RPC etc.  They all do very similar work for the same insurers on the same panels for the same rates.   

Anonymous. 28 May 22 17:26

The way it's going not much will be left of CCs acquisition,  the BLM resignations are coming in thick and fast. When employees of many years  service at all levels who have a depth of knowledge and experience of the business that is irreplaceable jump the ship you know something is very wrong. A pity they weren't valued and respected by BLM.

A very sad state of affairs to see Berrymans Lace Mawer reduced to this

 

Anon 28 May 22 17:49

2 weeks ago the BLM staff cheered. 
How wrong they were. Sold out by a management team that failed.

Gutted 28 May 22 20:17

If the C&C trainees are as they sound, they’ll be gutted when we get amongst them. Brilliant Legal Minds. The clue is in the name. 

Gary A 28 May 22 21:56

BLM has always been top heavy. The quality of SPs is poor...the management EPs even worse. I suspect things must have looked pretty dire for BLM financially to have allowed itself to be subsumed by CAC. 

I see from companies house EP members are already being shed.

I fear there will be a LOT of BLM job losses over-the next 12 months...just look back to what happened to BLG.

Anon 29 May 22 12:49

Interesting to look at the recent ROF stories on both firms - the Clydes partner and a trainee, BLM being stolen from.

As I recall, the BLG people left Clydes for DACB after a few years. As to BLM partners; didn't Jeanette Newman and Jonathan Edwards leave BLM to join Clydes? And where would they be now??

Poor BLM, you didn't deserve this. On the plus side, lots of good lawyers will hit the market soon. You will all be welcome at the competitors. Indeed, I wonder what Clydes will have left after 2 years!

As to BLM management - hang your heads in shame. This disaster has been years in the making.

Bit of staff pay back. 29 May 22 17:18

At this rate the redundancies(around 80%leaving) will be consuming all the profits of CnC.

Nice one BLM.

Plus all those years of lost knowledge now that's irreplaceable good luck cnc working out what to do and how to do it. 

Gary A 29 May 22 18:42

Anonymous 28 May 5.26pm

Err no nothing is wrong.

Don't you get it? CAC just want your place on insurer panels / insurer relationships not your duff staff. You are just bog standard injury lawyers...ten a penny...not very good. BLM injury lawyers in London will be the first out. No doubt you thought you'd be getting salary rises?! Start updating your CVs...you'll need to head out to the provinces / up North. No more pretending to be City lawyers.

Saddened and dismayed 29 May 22 21:12

I'm a C&C trainee, and I for one am seething that the quality of our intake and brand is being extinguished by effectively a northern high street firm. It's not fair to us who have gotten good 2:1s at university with good profiles and who have worked hard to achieve a TC at a top tier firm.

People forget that we can jump ship with a click of a finger to another firm which will pay us more when we qualify. In the meantime we receive world class training. But our brand will be weakened with the arrival of weaker people. It's so frustrating thinking that at a lateral interview I'll have to explain how I originally got my TC at C&C rather than being a new joiner from BLM, and then having to talk about BLM! It's ridiculous.

It's a huge drain to morale - and it's not just me; having spoken to partners and associates they are rightly concern about the quality gap, and the inevitable brain drain that will ensue. If there is anything, anything at all to stop this merger, we should do it. And it's not fair to the BLM trainees and associates who will struggle in a more competitive environment - they chose the firm they went to, they want a 9-5 comfortable job where they can coast. It's not to say they won't cope in time, of course some can make the transition, but the point is it'll take them at least 9-18 months to really "get it" and be aligned to our systems and ways of doing things, not to mention adjusting to the work ethic and expectations C&C requires.

Anonymous 29 May 22 23:19

This is what happens when you let two lawyers, as capable as they might be, play at running a £100m turnover organisation. Worse still, they didn't even earn their respective positions; they secured the votes of their contemporaries (yes, more lawyers) in an X Factor style beauty contest. Think Tesco putting the Saturday girl in charge... And are these lawyers corporate lawyers? No, they're defendant personal injury lawyers. I'm surprised that anyone is surprised that these amateurs accrued enough debt to make a Harvard MBA graduate blush in second-hand embarrassment. Anyone stupid enough to put their capital into BLM (or indeed work towards having the opportunity to put their capital into BLM) deserves nothing but contempt. 

Clyde's Trainee 30 May 22 09:35

Clyde's Trainee here - don't listen to the helmets in the comments that think we are all somehow rattled with BLM's trainees joining the firm. In reality, we're really not being told much about the merger and what will happen with their intake, we actually find more out from The Lawyer and ROF. 

Pensive P 30 May 22 12:46

There is a remarkable difference between those at the firm who worked as paralegals and were given pity TCs / were campus ambassadors and direct applicants at this firm. 

Just as there will be a difference between BLM and Clyde trainees. 

To the latter, get out. 

Confused 31 May 22 12:21

If the Clydes trainees (or those who claim to be trainees) on this thread are so superior to the "poor" BLM trainees, why are they so worried? Clydes won't have to give BLM NQs jobs so as long as you're as great as you think you are, you should be fine.

Anon 31 May 22 12:56

“extinguished by effectively a northern high street firm”

…which is on the same panels and does the same work for the same clients and at the same rates as your firm.  You clearly don’t get it.  Clydes are in the same market as the other defendant insurance firms, and need to expand their regional offering because the work isn’t really profitable in the city anymore.  Whilst no doubt with your stellar 2:1 and middle of the road NQ salary to look forward to and your vast experience of law firm management gained whilst doing trainee jobs you are better placed than the people running the firm to opine on these issues, but the reason Clydes’ management wanted to  merge is precisely because BLM has key clients, a serious standing in the market for the same work Clydes does, a much better regional offering, much longer relationships with key insurers, and some big hitting partners who have done major work in the prof indemnity and casualty space in the last decade.  

As for Clydes being a “top firm” - get over yourself.  You only have to look at what it pays NQs and what the PEP is and how it is opening up regional offices to see its actual place, certainly within the defendant insurance model.  Trainees at Magic circle, silver circle and US firms wouldn’t consider working at Clydes and they absolutely look down on people like you, even with your 2:1 (bless).  
 

As for morale, Clydes has been in trouble for years and years.  To blame it on BLM is a bit rich.   

@Clyde's Trainee 31 May 22 13:10

The trainees are in the exact same boat over here at BLM. It's frustrating to say the least. 

Gary A 31 May 22 13:35

Yes Jonathan and Jeannet did leave C & C and as far as I know went onto bigger and better things.

C & C is certainly no pinnacle of law firms!

AngryBeellemer 31 May 22 15:45

If Clydes is as good as the trainees who have been lawyers for 2.5 seconds are claiming to be.

What did they need to buy BLM. I anticipate it was simply because they couldn’t get on the panel for our clients on merit. 

Dont forget we have had clydes as co-defs and I can’t name one decent lawyer. Clydes does seem to have a high turnover with their staff though.

The bottom line is BLM will do the work cheaper. All the worst newbies/trainees

 

Anon 31 May 22 21:26

Saddened and Dismayed

Are you really so arrogant and deluded or is your post a joke?

You're hardly in a class of your own with a 'good 2:1'!!

"World class training'...'click of the fingers'...dream on.

To Saddened and dismayed 01 June 22 06:44

A top tier firm! 
 

Thanks for that. I needed cheering up. 
 

Don’t you get it? You may look down on BLM, but the magic circle, silver circle, those on the Yankee dollar, sole practitioners doing what they love and a whole host of others all look down on YOU and CaC. 
 

It’s all relative and nothing more than a personal view. Twerp. 

Anonymous 01 June 22 08:31

There were some gems at BLM and I see these people, the ones that operated with integrity, worked hard and had true talent and expertise are leaving en mass. At this rate C&C will only be left with the  paper pushers - the senior management team. The senior partner, managing partner, head of corporate sector (also head of marketing for some unknown reason), some (not all) of the equity partners and head of client development, all contributed into turning BLM into a circus. Bad decisions for many years - senior members spending too much on client entertainment with little results, numerous redundancies over the years which resulted in reduced morale throughout the firm and losing great talent to competitors, their panel rates continually driven down to the lowest of the low, getting kicked off numerous panels, not working on many innovative or high profile cases (just their run of the mill cases), hardly any innovative solutions being driven internally, creating bad relationships with clients, investing in "new" technologies/legal software they couldn't afford in an effort to create efficiencies, what the hell was GILC about? (another shit show run by a bunch of morons) - all of this resulting in promising clients things that couldn't be delivered and ultimately a fast loss of profits. 

BLM suffering from another backlash following continual poor management decisions. Hang your heads in shame BLM Management!

C&C - I feel very bad for you, get rid of these dead weights! 

You know nothing 01 June 22 08:36

Some of the comments on here are hilarious.  There’s no fecking law involved in the vast majority of insurance work.  
Let’s just agree that the C & C trainees will know no more than the BLM trainees.  That is because you insurance law types know sod all about the law.

Now get back to arguing about how much to pay to the old lady who slipped on a sausage in the butcher’s shop and whether she’s “contrib” because she didn’t have her specs on.  

 

 

Anonymous 01 June 22 15:36

Clydes trainees, you sound like a lovely bunch! I would respectfully suggest that you get over yourselves, you bunch of bellends. 

anon 06 June 22 19:01

Post merger BLM salaried partners (soon to be known as 'Executive Directors of Enormous Importance'), will be earning less then the stuck up, arrogant trainees on here. 

If I was a BLM salaried partner, I think I'd apply for a training contract. In 2 minutes you'll be earning loads more. 

Sunday Thinking ... 07 June 22 11:17

So many words wasted on trainee non-issues: the real issue here is that the take-over (yes, take-over, not merger) will result in BLM salaried partners no longer being such as of right, which can surely only be viewed as a demotion. 

No mention here of BLM equity partners, though. Can we take it that BLM equity partners are to transfer over to Clyde & Co as equity partners: anyone got any information on that? I assume it is equity partners who arranged all this, so I assume they saved their own skins?

Hugely entertained 07 June 22 13:08

The comments on here are hugely entertaining. 
 

just shows how CaC think they are wonderful - you’re not - and BLM was a box of frogs. 
 

biggest laugh is how the BLM trainees think they are excellent. You’re not. You’re good but that’s it. Average in fact. Working for insurers who want to pay peanuts and are happy to get what comes with that. CaC are the same. Manchester CaC is just another insurance sweat shop but with slightly better carpets. End of. 

Anon 07 June 22 21:14

To You Know Nothing 

Your assessment is harsh and plainly wrong.

I work in the BLM Banana (and other soft fruit) Slips Claim Team. Although liability may never be an issue there are some pretty complex arguments on quantum-albeit for minor sprains and bruises-and small claims procedural stuff can be tricky. I have to look up the appropriate award for the injury in a book. Sometimes there are some pretty stiff calculations that need to be made for travel to a GP and buying pain medication

And yes contrib can also be complex if the claimant failed to brake and / or heed the banana (or.other soft fruit) and needs to be negotiated at somewhere between 10-20% of quantum.

We at BLM.certainly know our onions on this sort of stuff. CaC will not have the same depth of.expertise and would do well not to allow an exodus of really talented paralegals / Litigation execs. We can click our fingers for work anywhere in the provinces.

 

Anonymous. 08 June 22 15:45

Worked at legacy BLG, and soon to be legacy BLM, so commenting.

BLG Oxford was awful, no on the job training, no supervision anyone could class as constructive (Nurse-Marsh/Brett), denied any access to London training (I was told I could not attend), no library training to access cases, precedents and colleagues all too ready to undermine someone entirely new to professional risk (Oliver/Collins). Ultimately, most left (intermittently but regularly) due to the atmosphere, and so when Clydes shut the Oxford office (presumably because it was not viable), I am sure that a touch of Schadenfreude was felt by ex-staff. I needed to have access to quality training, so little point being there.

As for Berrymans, shockingly shabby and mediocre internally, and that goes for the Partners, the lack of professionalism, lack of any bespoke pure indemnity training, poor communication, an excessive amount of old male white dinosaurs lingering on beyond a natural retirement age, Partners who expected you to have all the answers but who were not able to advise, guide, train or properly supervise, and odd categories of work being classed as professional risk which Clydes will no doubt recategorise, and shove into other departments.  

Both firms deserve/d to be taken over.

Merger my ar*se 09 June 22 11:40

What it says on the Tin. This ain’t no merger and BLM staff have been shafted hard, by the top cheeses. 

Consumed and spat out.

Thanks for nothing. 

Anonymous 09 June 22 18:12

The senior partner, managing partner, head of corporate sector (a psychopath), and head of client development are to blame for this mess.

Anonymous 09 June 22 21:01

So, going back to actual equity (not salaried) partners, does anyone know what they will transfer over to Clydes as? No mention here… 

This article clearly only mentions the options for salaried partners.

I ask because PEP at Clydes and BLM is very different, and I think even the BLM salaried partners may have to justify their existence.

Anyone got any information on that?

 

Anon 09 June 22 21:51

“That is because you insurance law types know sod all about the law.”

Depends what type.  Personal injury, agreed.  Professional indemnity?  It’s one of the most challenging areas of the profession because you are having to understand various aspects of underlying law in the original matter, which could be anything, and apply legal principles to it and advise the lawyers who practised it as their day job but who are getting sued.   So it contains a lot of law and intellectual challenge.  

Anon 09 June 22 22:16

Clydes trainees.  Bless.  Paid very averagely, and then really quite poorly as NQs, doing low hourly rate insurance work before it gets shipped to the regions and giving it the big “look at me”.  Thinking they are above BLM folk.   Get real.   No one in the city thinks working at Clyde and Co as a trainee or NQ in a defendant insurance dept (or any dept) is a major achievement at all and no one with any real ambition would apply to do so.  It’s for people with 2:1 degrees from places like Manchester and Birmingham.  Just plain average.  Anyone with any real ability and ambition leaves when they realise the reality of what lies in wait.    As a five year PQE they will still be earning less than an NQ at a place like Slaughters, Freshfields, CC, White & Case, Bakers, Herbies etc. who wouldn’t touch with a barge pole some of the work Clydes does in the insurance sector and which Clydes doesn’t want to do in the city anymore anyway.   

Bless you with your 2:1.  

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