No, this is not an invitation to a cozy hotel to have a drink with one's colleagues while discussing "strategy going forward..."No, this is a warning to lawyers that Tesco Law (or should that be Co-op Law now) is having an effect on the market for lawyers.
According to reports of a survey by the Financial Times,
the number of partner roles lost in the year to June 30 outweighed the positions gained, pulling back the total number of law firm partners by 153 to 33,662.
“It’s understandable that firms are reluctant to promote lawyers who don’t already have a track record of bringing in income . . . if the associates don’t look like they will be able to add to the profit pool, the partners are essentially being asked to dilute their own income.”The uncertainty raised by the Legal Services Act and Tesco Law has meant that law firms are retrenching by not promoting younger partners. One of the results of this move is that a bottleneck in potential partners is created. Not that it will necessarily be unplugged at a later date.
One consequence is a rise in moves to in house counsel positions. Or maybe into Alternative Business Structures. After all the Co-op is hiring in law.
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