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Mind the gap: financial results reveal magic circle split

Although a very interesting article, you certainly have not made your case for there being such a gap between Freshfields/Linklaters and A&O/Clifford Chance. I will agree that there appears to be a wide gap between Freshfields/Linklaters and CC, but such a divide is not that apparent with A&O. (Unless, of course, you only use your newfound interest in equity v. non-equity partners as the dividing force. But even then, your numbers are impacted by A&O's lock-step structure, which forces partners to serve in non-equity positions for the first two-years.) In all the other financial categories, the differences between A&O and the supposed new higher end of the Magic Circle echelon is less than 10% (PEP, REP, RPL, and profit-margin). Given that the past two-years have shown the incredible swings that law firms are subject to in all three categories, changes that The Lawyer, has written about at great length, I simply cannot see how your judgments hold up.

12-Jul-2010

11:34 am