Web week

Salans announced last week that it plans to offer staff a four-day week and, while readers of TheLawyer.com praised Norton Rose for doing the same thing, those posting comments on the site were less flattering towards Salans.

<strong>Salans’ lot </strong>
One who identified himself as Mark said the move by Salans was a “smokescreen”, adding: “The reality is that these lawyers will be doing exactly the same work over five days or more for 80% of the money. Nobody will be taking a full day off and anyone who does will face redundancy. The firms all know this. It’s just publicity.”

Another, posting anonymously, claimed: “They aren’t suggesting four day weeks out of the goodness of their heart.”

Not all the posters were against the move, however, with another anonymous reader writing: “At least they are taking an overall look at things and looking into the future by asking people to go part-time. They are not the biggest name, so it is a good move to try and keep who they have managed to attract so far.”

Elsewhere the debate over whether law graduates make better lawyers than non-law graduates raged on.

One reader, posting under the name sweetandsour, said: “I will admit that the GDL does not compare to a law degree. It lacks the depth, variety and complexity.”
Hellokitty agreed, saying: “To say that English, history degrees prepare somebody is ridiculous.”

However, a reader posting as openattheclose disagreed, writing: “Goodbyekitty clearly has no knowledge of what an LLM entails. An LLM is not a course where you can spend another year drinking. It is an incredibly difficult and challenging course. Anybody with half a brain would know that. Perhaps some people do extra degrees to further themselves and put themselves ahead of the mass of people who get a 2.1 every year.”