The Magic Circle has fared moderately in this year's Firm of the Year survey.
Allen & Overy reclaimed the top spot amongst the UK big five, and came in at a respectable tenth place with a 68% overall score. The firm
managed decent scores across the board - but it was the firm's trainees who proved to be most enthusiastic. In fact taking only trainees' feedback into account, A&O would have been placed third overall (77%).
Trainees were particularly excited by the social life offered by the firm - "socially it has some of the best trainees in London" who, importantly, are also "super good looking". And while finding time to socialise with them might not always be easy, given that "at 4pm last Sunday there were around 30 of my 60 strong trainee intake in the building", there's huge enthusiasm for the "epic" bar and "great rooftop restaurants".
But it's not all roses. Higher up the qualification ladder
enthusiasm definitely wanes. If feedback were only taken into account from qualified lawyers, A&O's total score would plummet to just 58% (Freshfields is the only Magic Circle firm where qualified lawyers are happier than trainees). Staff development and openness at A&O take a hit with more senior lawyers, with grumbles about lacklustre partnership prospects and complaints that "every internal or external communication is so heavily spun by the PR team that I think they've hired Alastair Campbell". Overall however, responses were generally positive with the firm rated for "fantastic" work, "great facilities" and some "genuinely nice people".
It's probably not too much of a shock that work/life balance really dragged the corporate powerhouses down the rankings. The Magic Circle made up four of the five lowest scoring firms for work life balance (only Mayer Brown fared worse). Linklaters propped up the table in this category, scoring a woeful 47% and getting a kicking for its "terrible hours". And Slaughters wasn't far behind with 49% ("Partners organise their time so that they can leave on time and see their children. Bugger everyone else").
Meanwhile Freshfields' respondents complained of a "non-existent work life balance" and "trainee salaries that if converted to an hourly rate work out to be less than you'd earn in MacDonalds" - which may explain why the firm only scored 51% overall.
A lack of openness was also an issue for the Magic Circle. Slaughter and May was the worst performer by a long shot, coming second to last overall with a score of 38% (a whopping 16% lower than its nearest rival Linklaters). But none of the Magic Circle firms really covered itself in glory when it came to being open with staff. A&O came top with 69%: reasonable enough, but not even in the same league as overall winner Lathams (88%), which prides itself on its US model of transparency.
There wasn't a whole lot in it between the firms when it came to staff development. Slaughters fared the worst, scoring only 54%, with respondents complaining that the firm saw associates as "expendable" and that there were "no prospects of partnership". But criticism of the diffculties of getting onto the letterhead was levelled at everyone. At CC making partner is "just a lucky dip", whilst a Freshfields' respondent complained that "career progression opportunities are as clear as a solid brick wall".
But what the Magic Circle firms lack in terms of prospects and transparency, it seems they make up for when it comes to wedge. Scores were most consistent in this category and whilst the elite UK firms cannot compete with the fat salaries offered by US outfits, all did well. A&O lawyers were happiest with their remuneration and the "bonus scheme is good ". Not so chirpy were the Slaughters' lawyers where "the associates' pay is always catching up with the average".
It's rather a fall from grace for Slaughters - which came top of the MC bunch last year. Coming in at 43rd place overall, the firm takes the wooden spoon from last year's bottom-placed Freshfields. So what has changed so much that the firm has gone from the pick of the Magic Circle to a firm that inspires comparisons to "working on the death star"? It may well be that the goodwill generated by the firm's careful handling of the downturn - which helped it to score so highly last year - has dissipated now the recession is over and the threat of redundancy is no longer hanging over people's heads.
Whilst Slaughters was praised for a "standard of staff second to none", "quality of work" and its "excellent clients", it was panned for notoriously long hours, low pay and all but non-existent partnership prospects. And unlike A&O - where lawyers are "encouraged to deal with the crap lawyer life by binge drinking and eating" - there's not even the prospect of a nice knees-up to distract unhappy staff. The firm received the lowest overall score for its social scene (44%). "I hate my life" whimpered one trainee.
Tip Off ROF
Allen & Overy reclaimed the top spot amongst the UK big five, and came in at a respectable tenth place with a 68% overall score. The firm
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Trainees were particularly excited by the social life offered by the firm - "socially it has some of the best trainees in London" who, importantly, are also "super good looking". And while finding time to socialise with them might not always be easy, given that "at 4pm last Sunday there were around 30 of my 60 strong trainee intake in the building", there's huge enthusiasm for the "epic" bar and "great rooftop restaurants".
But it's not all roses. Higher up the qualification ladder
enthusiasm definitely wanes. If feedback were only taken into account from qualified lawyers, A&O's total score would plummet to just 58% (Freshfields is the only Magic Circle firm where qualified lawyers are happier than trainees). Staff development and openness at A&O take a hit with more senior lawyers, with grumbles about lacklustre partnership prospects and complaints that "every internal or external communication is so heavily spun by the PR team that I think they've hired Alastair Campbell". Overall however, responses were generally positive with the firm rated for "fantastic" work, "great facilities" and some "genuinely nice people".It's probably not too much of a shock that work/life balance really dragged the corporate powerhouses down the rankings. The Magic Circle made up four of the five lowest scoring firms for work life balance (only Mayer Brown fared worse). Linklaters propped up the table in this category, scoring a woeful 47% and getting a kicking for its "terrible hours". And Slaughters wasn't far behind with 49% ("Partners organise their time so that they can leave on time and see their children. Bugger everyone else").
Meanwhile Freshfields' respondents complained of a "non-existent work life balance" and "trainee salaries that if converted to an hourly rate work out to be less than you'd earn in MacDonalds" - which may explain why the firm only scored 51% overall.
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A lack of openness was also an issue for the Magic Circle. Slaughter and May was the worst performer by a long shot, coming second to last overall with a score of 38% (a whopping 16% lower than its nearest rival Linklaters). But none of the Magic Circle firms really covered itself in glory when it came to being open with staff. A&O came top with 69%: reasonable enough, but not even in the same league as overall winner Lathams (88%), which prides itself on its US model of transparency.
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There wasn't a whole lot in it between the firms when it came to staff development. Slaughters fared the worst, scoring only 54%, with respondents complaining that the firm saw associates as "expendable" and that there were "no prospects of partnership". But criticism of the diffculties of getting onto the letterhead was levelled at everyone. At CC making partner is "just a lucky dip", whilst a Freshfields' respondent complained that "career progression opportunities are as clear as a solid brick wall".
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But what the Magic Circle firms lack in terms of prospects and transparency, it seems they make up for when it comes to wedge. Scores were most consistent in this category and whilst the elite UK firms cannot compete with the fat salaries offered by US outfits, all did well. A&O lawyers were happiest with their remuneration and the "bonus scheme is good ". Not so chirpy were the Slaughters' lawyers where "the associates' pay is always catching up with the average".
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It's rather a fall from grace for Slaughters - which came top of the MC bunch last year. Coming in at 43rd place overall, the firm takes the wooden spoon from last year's bottom-placed Freshfields. So what has changed so much that the firm has gone from the pick of the Magic Circle to a firm that inspires comparisons to "working on the death star"? It may well be that the goodwill generated by the firm's careful handling of the downturn - which helped it to score so highly last year - has dissipated now the recession is over and the threat of redundancy is no longer hanging over people's heads.
Whilst Slaughters was praised for a "standard of staff second to none", "quality of work" and its "excellent clients", it was panned for notoriously long hours, low pay and all but non-existent partnership prospects. And unlike A&O - where lawyers are "encouraged to deal with the crap lawyer life by binge drinking and eating" - there's not even the prospect of a nice knees-up to distract unhappy staff. The firm received the lowest overall score for its social scene (44%). "I hate my life" whimpered one trainee.