Feb

15

Partners playing with fire

February 15, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Top partners concede that firms are playing with fire as they continue to push leverage, but predict there are more cutbacks to come. Charlotte Edmond reports on the latest Big Question survey

She reports that increasing leverage and restricted partnership prospects have hurt law firms’ cultures and hit the morale of the rising numbers of assistants, according to top business lawyers — but they still believe firms will continue to push leverage for the foreseeable future.

This is intersting as new research shows almost two-thirds (64%) of top UK partners think the increase in leverage this year to seven fee earners for every equity partner has been damaging. Of those, 10% said the general trend in recent years for firms to increase leverage had done ‘severe damage’.

These are the results of the latest Legal Week/EJ Legal Big Question survey, which polls more than 100 leading business lawyers. The survey found that more than half (54%) say the rise in leverage, which has contributed to spiralling partner profits in major commercial firms, has gone far enough.

more..


Comments

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Name (required)

Email (required)

Website

Speak your mind