With Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer’s financial results today confirmed, some judgments can be made about how the UK’s big four law firms have fared over the recession and the subsequent slump in commercial activity – a period roughly spanning 2008-09 and 2009-10. Unsurprisingly, the worst recession for at least 25 years had taken a considerable toll.
In 2008, the group collectively billed £4.816bn, a figure that has now fallen to £4.567bn, meaning £249m has disappeared from the top line, including £132m at Clifford Chance (CC). All four firms have been through major partnership restructurings in the last four years and CC, Linkaters and Allen & Overy (A&O) in addition last year pushed through large-scale redundancies for junior lawyers and support staff.
