The results of the RollOnFriday Firm of the Year 2019 survey are in. 

Over 5,000 people working at UK law firms rated their firm's pay, career development, management, work-life balance, culture, loos and snacks. The results represent the definitive guide to which firms spark joy and which hoard sadness.

Mills & Reeve has been crowned RollOnFriday Firm of the Year 2019, while Ince Gordon Dadds receives the Golden Turd. But what about everyone else? Here are the overall results in all their glory:

results

The results can be interpreted as follows:

  • 80% and above - Amazing
  • 70-79% - Excellent
  • 65-69% - Good
  • 60-64% - OK 
  • 50-59% - Um
  • 50% and below - Rancid!

65 firms feature in this year's survey results. Staff from a further 36 firms responded, but too few entered to justify their workplaces' inclusion in the final tally. In total, 49% of respondents were women, 45% were men and 6% were silent on their gender. Women and men scored their firms, on average, just about the same - a high 73% and 72% respectively. Staff who identified as 'other' or preferred not to specify their gender gave a much lower average score of 52%.


shatt

FOTY Staaaaaaaaaats!


Most satisfied of all were the students, who were just happy to be there, or afraid to get caught slagging off the firm to RollOnFriday and blackballed. Next came the partners, who were just happy to be there, or afraid to get caught slagging off the firm to RollOnFriday and de-equitised. Trainees were also bright about their situation, a feeling which dissipated somewhat in the more senor non-partner bands. 

happy

    Learn more about your objects of interest next week as RollOnFriday takes a canter through the various categories (and answers the question: what happened, Norton Rose Fulbright?).

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    Comments

    Planner 15 February 19 09:19

    So route to happiness in law: move somewhere to get loads of cash and no time, or move somewhere to get less cash and loads of time. Just don't get stuck with no time and less cash. Simples!

    Anon 15 February 19 10:44

    Although you haven't said anything about it, presumably because it wouldn't be snide or funny, it is good to see that Irwin Mitchell has gone massively up in your rankings.

    Not a perfect place to work (and inconsistent biscuits) but good to see that it no longer gets the golden turd. Although the management are from Yorkshire so they would probably have tried to melt it down and sell it if they won it... 

    Anonymous 15 February 19 11:02

    Treasure mention of Slater and Gordon while you can.  Given the alacrity with which they kill their own (one big hitter less than two weeks into garden leave as we speak), there may be nobody left by this time next year.

    Anonymous 15 February 19 11:06

    Having worked at firms ranked in both the bottom three and top three, must say I think these rankings are off piste

    Anonymous 15 February 19 11:26

    Good to see great progress from Irwin Mitchell - by all accounts, a massively improving place to work.

    Tim L 15 February 19 12:10

    There should be a clear caveat to this poll so as not to lead readers to believe that working at any law firm is “Amazing”.  I suggest it should be along the lines of: “just like ranking the mainstream STD’s we decided to rank law firms”.

    Anon 15 February 19 13:53

    I’m sorry but IM going from bottom to 26th is plainly false when nothing significant has changed -questions have to be asked on whether dummy positive reviews have been put through to skew the figures 

    Anon again 15 February 19 17:16

    I think that the difference is that, unlike in previous years, IM encouraged staff to complete the survey this year and people did.  And before the haters start, no, we weren't told to write nice things.  It was made very clear (to me and the teams I know) that we should complete it honestly.   

    #GladImNotInTheirShoos 15 February 19 17:18

    Has anybody seen that God awful Shoosmiths social media campaign recently?  #InMyShoos I think they call it, which really pushes what an amazing place it is to work.  Well I for one am pretty glad I'm not #InTheirShoos given they were inches away from stepping in a giant ROF shaped turd...

    Dodge 15 February 19 17:50

    Irwin Mitchel
    Irwin Snitchel
    Irwin Comms-TeamBeenAtItOnTheRollOnFridaySurvey-chel

    I can't rhyme for shit, but I know dark arts comms when I sees it.  Stick to grassing up porn users ya ambulance chasing, Daytime TV loving dodgers...

    Anonymouse 15 February 19 22:17

    to be told to complete ROF survey by your employer says it all... look at the likes to dislikes to the comments above and make your own mind Ip.

    You can say what you like, but has anyone seen anupward swing from golden turd to the current standing that IM has achieved before. I know the pay situation hasn’t changed and that’s the common denominator. Hit like if you agree 

    Anonymous 16 February 19 11:05

    I thought rof asked firms to encourage staff to fill in the survey and lots do. I think it was in a comment on another story. Does rof ever say how many people fill it in per firm?

    Anonymous 17 February 19 17:52

    I work at Irwin Mitchell & in my humble opinion the majority of past negative comments appeared as if they’d come from those who had an axe to grind (predominantly because they were never going to progress - or even be retained), or those who’ve never actually worked there!

     

    In all honesty, like most workplaces, IM is not perfect. There‘s definitely still a bad egg or 2 lingering around. But all in all, the management seem to be addressing this & they, along with the partners & other staff who work at IM, are mostly decent & kind people who are passionate about what they do & really care about their clients.

    And for those of you who casually use the derogatory term ‘ambulance chasing’, I, like most lawyers at IM, care deeply about helping others. Frankly, when you’ve come face to face with grieving parents who’ve traumatically lost their child, or children who don’t understand why a parent has passed, your petty attempt at an insult because you see something as ‘beneath you’ only serves to show how callous & lacking in compassion you are. Let’s hope you never find yourself in that situation!

    Anonymous 19 February 19 13:55

    No surprises to see NRF take a mahoooosive tumble. I've seen associates fleeing it like rats from a sinking ship. Only need to look to attitudes in management to see why 

    Anon 20 February 19 14:22

    Freeths?

    Weightmans?

    Withers?

    (All top 50 - surprised not enough people responded there for inclusion)

     

    Anonymous 21 February 19 08:46

    Good to see that Irwin Mitchell's PR and communication have been working hard at completing teh survey for everyone.  Hoping they have been paid high rates of overtime and are receiving huge priase for manipulating a pretty flawed approach to surveying people.   

    Bet the partners and board are taking the glory - reality check needed for the Victorian mill owners, its not a real result

    False result if ever there has been one. 

    Anon 22 February 19 07:11

    Sadly need to agree with the general IM comments that it’s been manafactured. Yes, usually it’s just the cynics that look at this site but they do know what the issues are. Creating positive views or asking people to complete knowing it will be positive doesn’t means the problems are gone.  Irwins have changed for the better and going in the right direction but negative comments need to be understood and action taken. 

    Anonymous 28 February 19 14:23

    as someone who has worked at IM for 5 years, really happy to see it lose the unfair golden turd award. Like others have said its not perfect, but its actually a pretty good place to work with some fantastic people doing their best. Even the management have become a lot more engaged of late.

    Just need to sort out our 'outsourcing everything 'problem and get an on-site gym and we'll be 1st next year :-)

    Anonymous 04 March 19 17:31

    Good to see the hard work of the One IM HR and business development teams in filling out the forms wasn't wasted. What a remarkable result. Not even remotely suspicious.

    At least it stops them blaming 'bad leavers' for bad results. How many unhappy former partners can one law firm have?

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