Paying Lawyers - The London Lockstep Just Got Harder

Recent reports show that European law firms are changing they way partners are paid - making remuneration more performance-based rather than the 'lockstep' system based on legnth of service. The trend is moving away fast from lockstep with more firms basing profit distribution on performance or, at least, on a combination of the two.

The survey, conducted by BDO Stoy Hayward's professional services practice, shows that the proportion of European firms that maintain a pure lockstep model fell from 42 per cent in 2005 to just 25 per cent this year. Further, the 'halfway house' part-merit, part-lockstep also fell sharply, from 36 per cent in 2005 to just 15 per cent today.

All of which is good news for young lawyers and even better for young lawyers motivated by performance-based remuneration - and show me an ambitious lawyer who isn't. The
continued surge in mergers and acquisitions activity and a sharp increase in the ratio of lawyers to partners boosted average profits at European firms by 15 per cent last year. The need to keep them - and increase their numbers - has made the move from the lockstep model an inevitability.

Jobs On Video - The Growing Online, Oncamera Trend - Does It Work For Lawyers?

Time Magazine's article on video resumes is an interesting look at the fast-developing role of online video sites and their application to online resumes. The large Vault site has just completed a video resume contest and YouTube itself carries around 1600 resumes, some of which are funny, some tragic and some . . well, they seem to work.

Time points to Jobster's link with social networker Facebook to feature online videos, while there are other sites like 62ndview, HireVue and ResumeVideo either up or being launched.

One problem is the issue of liability. Just as some offline resumes have names and identifying characteristics (like racial background) deleted to avoid liability issues, the video resume offers up a host more such potential liabilities that are scaring some employers into keeping their job submission process in the old format.

My guess is that video resumes will become a de rigeur method of job application in the not-so-distant future. Issues of liability will be like any other issue of liability - you operate within an environment that provides protection to both employer and potential employee.

So . . camera, lights, video action!

Big Money Lures Antipodean Lawyers - Law Jobs in the UK

Down here in Down Under (New Zealand, to be specific) we've had the Robert Walters recruitment firm launch a second office - in Wellington, our home town as it happens. But what's interesting is that the firm has released data showing the massive money (by antipodean standards) being offered to lawyers from Down Under by the London branches of major US law firms like Skaddens, Fried Frank and others.

The US firms are looking for lawyers with between one and three years’ experience by offering salaries of between £100,000 and £120,000 — up to 30 per cent more than rival “magic circle” practices such as Clifford Chance and Linklaters, according to the Robert Walters report.

Law Jobs And Just Plain Working Too Hard

We ran a story from the London Times the other day on the death of a young Freshfields lawyer - Matthew Courtenay - who died after falling down a stairwell at the Tate Modern. Although its by no mean clear whether Matthew took his own life, one thing that the death did highlight in The Times story - and it's no different in London from any other big (and sometimes small) centers - is workload and stress.

Matthew had been working at Freshfields 16 hours a day, seven days a week. Associates are expected to work like this for up to eight years before reaching their partnership millionaire status. Once again, it's the old work/life balance issue. Some personalities can cope. Other's can't. Whether Matthew Courtenay fell into one or other category is irrelevant, the point is that work and money is only one part of success. Make sure you get it right.