Partners have divulged what they really think of their firm - and their colleagues - in the RollOnFriday Firm of the Year 2020 survey.

The poll closes in January, but RollOnFriday took a sneak peek at the spreadsheet.

There is huffing and puffing from a partner at Addleshaw Goddard, who says that "moves have been made on pay", but, "I don't think some associates appreciate how good their pay/hours ratio really is compared to other firms".

Things are rolling at Ashurst, says a partner there. "After a rough patch, we keep having good years". Channeling a feudal lord baffled by the peasants, he adds that associates "also seem to like it when they are being properly looked after on matters". 

At BLM, "people smile with their teeth, but not with their eyes. It's truly frightening". 

Different problems at Browne Jacobson, at least according to the partner who says she works "all hours that god gives to support the chinless wonders in charge". They "wouldn't understand business development if it came up behind them and shouted 'boo'".

---

^{Spill that tea.}

---

Burges Salmon, whose staff have made it the RollOnFriday Firm of the Year on several occasions, has "a genuine focus on making our lawyers better", says a partner. The new MP, Roger Bull, "has a modern outlook as managing partner and is suitably sceptical of management jargon".

A DAC Beachcroft partner sympathises with juniors in the volume claims business because, he said, they "have to work like coolies". Weirdly, given his turn of phrase, he also thinks the firm is "achingly PC on everything".

DLA Piper "is walking the walk on flexible working", says a partner. "It's a happy place to be", she adds.

So is DWF, which partners say is "meritocratic" (they would though, wouldn't they), and boasts a "unique culture" as "a northern upstart in a big boys' world".    

By rights, a submission from an Eversheds Sutherland partner about flexible working should catapult the firm into the top ten all by itself. "I recently authorised a team member to work at home for a few days to settle her new kitten in", they said. 

Hogan Lovells is almost as cuddly. "This is a place where, contrary to the mantra, clients don't come first - colleagues come first", says a partner. It is "something we would do well to remember so we don't end up like the shit-show on the other side of Shoe Lane which appears to treat its staff like commodities".

That would be Irwin Mitchell (the neighbours have a sometimes strained relationship). True, one IM partner claims that his professional life is "akin to a McDonalds shift manager". But other partners say there is "a real sense of belonging". at Irwin Mitchell. "We're a bit different from other firms, but proud of it".

Talking of pride, another IM partner recalls, "I sat next to an old duffer from one of the Northern offices who was banging on misty-eyed" about "the glory days of big disasters like Piper Alpha, the Herald of Free Enterprise and the Manchester airport disaster and how they elbowed other firms out of the way to become lead solicitors. And he was PROUD of it...honestly."    

At Osborne Clarke, a frequent top scorer in the survey, several partners agree with a colleague that "Things do seem a lot better here than at some of my pals' firms". Maybe they mean Plexus Law. "I work for a psycho", says a partner there, but at least "the proper arseholes have mainly gone now".

One partner dares to assess the happiness of another firm. "When on my way home on Friday night, I walk past those poor sods in Slaughter and May who are still slaving away and eating in their soulless canteen", says a Trowers & Hamlins partner, "a grim weekend of proofreading derivatives documentation in front of them, and I thank god that I work for Trowers".

Slaughter and May staff, and all those in private practice, still have time to respond (here and if you're in-house, here). A Watson, Farley & Williams partner hopes you do. "Really it has just been the malcontents who bother with this survey - those who are happy have not the time or inclination", they say. "But I felt the reviews have been so unbalanced and inaccurate that I am now participating to set the record straight! It is spurred me into action." Good luck!