Comments on: Magic Circle v US firms: A moot point https://www.legalcheek.com/2022/11/magic-circle-v-us-firms-a-moot-point/ Legal news, insider insight and careers advice Wed, 09 Nov 2022 12:45:40 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.5.5 By: Good line https://www.legalcheek.com/2022/11/magic-circle-v-us-firms-a-moot-point/#comment-1168923 Wed, 09 Nov 2022 12:45:40 +0000 https://www.legalcheek.com/?p=181152#comment-1168923 In reply to Anon.

Where is that quote at the end from

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By: MC Donald https://www.legalcheek.com/2022/11/magic-circle-v-us-firms-a-moot-point/#comment-1168888 Mon, 07 Nov 2022 23:45:39 +0000 https://www.legalcheek.com/?p=181152#comment-1168888 In reply to Anon.

Which MC are you at? We get £20 for dinner at my MC shop. You are being fleeced!

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By: Fresher alert 🚨 🚨 🚨 https://www.legalcheek.com/2022/11/magic-circle-v-us-firms-a-moot-point/#comment-1168885 Mon, 07 Nov 2022 20:32:45 +0000 https://www.legalcheek.com/?p=181152#comment-1168885 In reply to cringe overload.

Future MC trainee detected – someone has gotten chippy.

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By: ? https://www.legalcheek.com/2022/11/magic-circle-v-us-firms-a-moot-point/#comment-1168875 Mon, 07 Nov 2022 13:51:53 +0000 https://www.legalcheek.com/?p=181152#comment-1168875 In reply to Anon.

Link?

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By: cringe overload https://www.legalcheek.com/2022/11/magic-circle-v-us-firms-a-moot-point/#comment-1168874 Mon, 07 Nov 2022 13:50:51 +0000 https://www.legalcheek.com/?p=181152#comment-1168874 😂😂 cringe alert?? ""Oo we won some work from the MC" well done lad do ya want a medal 🏅 👏]]> In reply to Bananaman.

My mans just compared his firm to a Rolls Royce 😂😂😂 cringe alert??

“”Oo we won some work from the MC” well done lad do ya want a medal 🏅 👏

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By: Anon. https://www.legalcheek.com/2022/11/magic-circle-v-us-firms-a-moot-point/#comment-1168867 Mon, 07 Nov 2022 09:28:29 +0000 https://www.legalcheek.com/?p=181152#comment-1168867 In reply to Bananaman.

Spot on. I’d add that MC partners and associates are in denial. The self-assured hubris amongst MC partners will eventually result in the demise of what used to be the gold standard of our legal industry. Many MC associates have failed to exercise independent judgment of the situation or lacked the courage the jump the boat. Then again, US firms do have high recruitment standards and not every MC alumnus can get in (and doubtless it depends on the practice area too).

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By: Tutut https://www.legalcheek.com/2022/11/magic-circle-v-us-firms-a-moot-point/#comment-1168863 Mon, 07 Nov 2022 03:01:15 +0000 https://www.legalcheek.com/?p=181152#comment-1168863 In reply to Anon.

Dream on. Associates are hour fodder. The associates that jump to US firms all the more so.

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By: MC ass https://www.legalcheek.com/2022/11/magic-circle-v-us-firms-a-moot-point/#comment-1168851 Sun, 06 Nov 2022 11:36:33 +0000 https://www.legalcheek.com/?p=181152#comment-1168851 In reply to Anon.

Very mixed bag in my experience. We lose some really good associates to US firms, but also all of our shittest associates go to US firms too. There’s a huge gap between people who leave for proper shops like Latham and those that go to the joke places. Lots of excellent associates stick around.

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By: Bananaman https://www.legalcheek.com/2022/11/magic-circle-v-us-firms-a-moot-point/#comment-1168850 Sun, 06 Nov 2022 11:29:45 +0000 https://www.legalcheek.com/?p=181152#comment-1168850 MC firms are like Mercedes/BMW (solid, no frills), while elite US firms are like Aston Martin and Rolls Royce (prestigious and premium). Both are excellent products, but with notable differences. As a senior at an elite US firm, I can confidently say that MC firms’ prestige is fading rapidly. Clients care about the quality of our service, and MC firms’ quality is slipping after losing a large number of excellent associates to US firms for the money (primary reason) and the entrepreneurial culture.

My firm is a band 2 practice but everyone is either trained at MC firms or from US/Australia with fantastic CVs. We regularly win work that is traditionally handled by MC firms. Our associates are hungry and ambitious – beyond mere hard work – and that is what makes US firms successful.

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By: James https://www.legalcheek.com/2022/11/magic-circle-v-us-firms-a-moot-point/#comment-1168847 Sat, 05 Nov 2022 21:48:50 +0000 https://www.legalcheek.com/?p=181152#comment-1168847 Hahahaha how much did Clifford Chance pay you to write this one

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By: Anon https://www.legalcheek.com/2022/11/magic-circle-v-us-firms-a-moot-point/#comment-1168842 Sat, 05 Nov 2022 09:59:39 +0000 https://www.legalcheek.com/?p=181152#comment-1168842 In reply to Anonymous – NOT a Lawyer.

This has to be the stupidest comment on here. At my MC firm we get a measly £10 for dinner credit if working late – at American firms it’s triple that. They get business class 5 star trips to New York for their associates conferences while at most we get an away day in slough if we’re lucky. Their health and dental coverage is much better, some of them even give 10k as a bonus just to travel somewhere for a week. Oh and they get paid double the salary on top. Shall I continue?

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By: Anon https://www.legalcheek.com/2022/11/magic-circle-v-us-firms-a-moot-point/#comment-1168836 Sat, 05 Nov 2022 07:12:51 +0000 https://www.legalcheek.com/?p=181152#comment-1168836 In reply to Anon.

Does anyone at a MC firm have anecdotal evidence of this occuring in their team?

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By: Loko banana https://www.legalcheek.com/2022/11/magic-circle-v-us-firms-a-moot-point/#comment-1168834 Fri, 04 Nov 2022 23:14:40 +0000 https://www.legalcheek.com/?p=181152#comment-1168834 In reply to Anon.

Stealth layoffs will likely occur within a band 1 sponsor finance firms shortly – no one is near 80% utilisation which is, frankly, worrying.

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By: US doyen https://www.legalcheek.com/2022/11/magic-circle-v-us-firms-a-moot-point/#comment-1168833 Fri, 04 Nov 2022 23:10:18 +0000 https://www.legalcheek.com/?p=181152#comment-1168833 In reply to Anon.

I can confirm that stealth layoffs are happening across the board within elite US firms. Lev finance and PE are at risks.

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By: Anonymous - NOT a Lawyer https://www.legalcheek.com/2022/11/magic-circle-v-us-firms-a-moot-point/#comment-1168827 Fri, 04 Nov 2022 20:20:28 +0000 https://www.legalcheek.com/?p=181152#comment-1168827 Surely another reason for the disparity in solicitor pay and partner PEP at the MC and US firms is the perks? From my understanding (which, admittedly, is limited), MC firms tend to have far more perks to offer than US firms. I know of several MC firms that have swimming pools, sauna’s and spa’s, 24/7 doctor’s and dentists, concierge, sleeping pods etc all in the office. Whereas, I believe US firms tend to do the minimum with having a doctor around and perhaps concierge and that’s it (of course, both types of firm also do parties and getaways). When combined with the fact that US firm lawyers tend to bill more hours, then of course the MC firms will lag behind. They must have much larger overheads with funding all of these perks, which is coming out of the solicitor/partners pay at the end of the day, with less revenue per lawyer to start with. And especially when you multiply the excess overheads by however many offices they have, pretty soon you end up with a gulf of difference in operating costs between US and MC firms.

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By: George Bush https://www.legalcheek.com/2022/11/magic-circle-v-us-firms-a-moot-point/#comment-1168807 Fri, 04 Nov 2022 15:00:01 +0000 https://www.legalcheek.com/?p=181152#comment-1168807 In reply to Anon.

Yeehaw. Irrelevant.

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By: Anon https://www.legalcheek.com/2022/11/magic-circle-v-us-firms-a-moot-point/#comment-1168806 Fri, 04 Nov 2022 14:57:26 +0000 https://www.legalcheek.com/?p=181152#comment-1168806 In reply to Anon.

And …? K&E’s Austin / Houston offices are far more in the kind of satellite offices than the London office at this stage.

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By: Anon https://www.legalcheek.com/2022/11/magic-circle-v-us-firms-a-moot-point/#comment-1168804 Fri, 04 Nov 2022 14:26:03 +0000 https://www.legalcheek.com/?p=181152#comment-1168804 In reply to Anon.

Check LinkedIn moves in a few months. US firms always do big stealth layoffs when there’s a down turn in work (which is happening in some transactional depts due to market), and we’re heading for a big recession. Much more cut throat in the US firms and much greater chance of being made redundant (at all levels).

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By: STB 2PQE https://www.legalcheek.com/2022/11/magic-circle-v-us-firms-a-moot-point/#comment-1168803 Fri, 04 Nov 2022 13:56:51 +0000 https://www.legalcheek.com/?p=181152#comment-1168803 In reply to Anon.

US firms are not currently recruiting, especially in LevFin and M&A. The only teams hiring are Disputes and Restructuring.

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By: Anon https://www.legalcheek.com/2022/11/magic-circle-v-us-firms-a-moot-point/#comment-1168802 Fri, 04 Nov 2022 13:46:08 +0000 https://www.legalcheek.com/?p=181152#comment-1168802 In reply to Anon.

But those are recent figures. It’s because of their underlying US strength that US firms had the cash to set up in London in the 2000s and start offering market beating salaries, which they have built on to be where they are today (and they still generate a far higher proportion of their profits in America, it’s just their profits are much higher than the MC)

MC firms were trying to do the same in New York at the same time, but they simply weren’t generating enough home market revenue to go in and pay significantly over Cravath scale, so they were squeezed out by the established players.

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By: Anon https://www.legalcheek.com/2022/11/magic-circle-v-us-firms-a-moot-point/#comment-1168801 Fri, 04 Nov 2022 13:44:31 +0000 https://www.legalcheek.com/?p=181152#comment-1168801 25 stealth layoffs (corporate associates) in Kirkland’s Texas office last week

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