The massive salary hikes that swept through the UK’s business law firms last year began on the West Coast of America. In the summer the West Coast firms began a new and less palatable trend of laying off fee earners. Now it has spread to New York firms as can been seen from the announced global cuts at Shearman & Sterling.

If City firms were unable to resist the salary rises begun by the US firms, why should they be able to resist this latest trend?