Eversheds (London)
Our view...
2008 was an annus horribilis for Eversheds. The firm came bottom of our
Firm Of The Year Survey by a country mile after making a massive number of staff redundant. Many would say that Eversheds had needed to do this for years – it was carrying way too much fat and needed to ramp up its profits. But it didn’t need to be so cloak and dagger about it, its London senior partner didn’t need to send an email pointing out that he was sharing in everyone’s pain by foregoing pudding, and paying the bare minimum statutory redundancy was frankly shameful. Those who managed to hold onto their jobs found themselves with their pay and Christmas party cut.
The firm’s slightly clumsy vision - to become "a great place to work and the most client-centred international law firm" – now looks dead in the water. "Shocking internal communication", "dreadful handling of the redundancy process", "stressful working conditions", "an atmosphere of fear and loathing" are typical complaints.
Can things only get better? Possibly. At the end of 2008 the firm rather defensively said that it had to make difficult decisions on staffing and that other firms would have to follow its lead. And it was right, even if they’ve been rather less cack-handed about it.
Partners will also hope that a slimmed down firm will help it resolve Eversheds’ long-term headache of inconsistency across offices, a result of its aggressive policy of expansion via merger. This made it difficult to convince the market that it was a single body with an identifiable corporate culture rather than a collective of smaller firms. Over recent years some of the less profitable offices have been abandoned – the latest to be axed was Norwich. Others are bound to follow. And smart new ones, most recently in Switzerland and South Africa, have launched.
Another concern was its London office, which was simply not as good - nor as profitable - as those of the traditional City players. There has now been a huge focus on ramping up London, with a huge investment in shiny new offices near St Pauls. Albeit unfortunately just as the real estate market crashed…
London assistants are being paid at levels that are not only well short of the Magic Circle but lower than those paid at the firm’s competitors. "Salaries are way below those of firms we would like to think that we compete with, and that is beginning to hit us hard", says one associate. There are various bonus schemes in place, linked both to the firm's overall performance and assistants' chargeable hours, but this is not the firm to work for if your chief motivator is cash.
On the plus side, there does appear to be a huge range of flexible working options, from career break to reduced hours, remote working and job sharing. More reports on whether this really does work please - if so then clearly this is a very good thing indeed. This year the firm is proud to announce it is the only law firm to be listed in the Mayor of London's women friendly workplace guide.
There are also concerns about prospects. The firm made up a record 30 partners in 2008, but the chances are they were all salaried and are likely to remain so for a long time. In fact, fewer than half of the firm's partners are in the equity: around 145 out of a total population of 2,200 lawyers. Not the best odds. Average earnings for all partners are £323,000, under half what you'd make at a traditional City firm.
And you'll be working pretty similar hours for it. The firm says that it doesn't have a long hours culture, but an assistant tells us that one of the written criteria for becoming an associate is to record at least 2,000 billable hours a year.
Trainees should know that although the firm takes on a lot of new recruits every year they're shared out around its offices. This means that you'll never have more than 17 colleagues, so you should be able to get to know each other easily. We can’t decide whether it’s a good or bad thing that you may or may not have cavorted naked with them in training. You'll also have the opportunity to be seconded to the firm's international offices or clients.
Overall the London office is clearly making strides - work is good, the new premises are open for business, and pay is on the up. But the office has been decimated, and it's still got a very long way to go before it can match the deal on offer at its City competitors.
For more information on Eversheds click here