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Legal Magic Circle Uk

Of the 23 rankings in these first two levels, 13 are occupied by Magic Circle companies (eight are occupied by US companies and only two by other national urban companies). Also keep in mind that the five companies in the Magic Circle rank in the top two levels in both areas. As of 2017, The Lawyer magazine no longer considers Slaughter and May part of the Magic Circle due to its lower income and national focus in the UK. [1] In 2017, The Lawyer magazine stated that “Slaughters is the Silver Circle in every way. PEP centered on London, highly publicized, high-level work, will have prestige: Slaughter and May looks more like Macfarlanes than the quartet Magic Circle with which it is commonly lumped together. Putting him in the same category as Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Linklaters would be inaccurate, and to put it in a class of its own, it frankly shows too much deference to the company. [6] [7] Other commentators still regard Slaughter and May as members of the Magic Circle. [8] [9] [10] [11] “It was a challenge,” said Brian Davis, legal recruiter for Major, Lindsey & Africa, referring to efforts by British companies to compete with the US. “By most standards, they`re not that profitable.” You should first ask yourself what you want from your legal career, and then look for companies that align with your goals. Consider the following factors when making your choice. U.S. companies are also in the market for the same caliber of graduates, enticing them with higher salaries.

The differences aren`t so obvious at the trainee level: first-year Magic Circle students can expect to earn around £43,000, while colleagues at the highest-paid US companies can get between £45,000 (Paul Hastings) and £50,000 (at Davis Polk). After qualification, the gap really starts to widen: while companies in the magic circle have recently increased NQ`s wages in response to some US companies increasing their salaries to (more) £100,000, the salary packages of the latter still far exceed those of the former. Among the companies in the magic circle, Slaughter and May gives the lowest salary in the NQ (£71,500), while Freshfields dominates the sleeping place with £85,000. Compare that to the highest-paid American companies: Paul Hastings distributes £110.00, Davis Polk £112,500 and Kirkland & Ellis $180,000. Even Akin Gump, who starts his apprentices with the same salary as the magic circle, significantly increases the Dosh post-qualification to pay his NQ £112,500. There are other firms lagging in these top rankings, and many more firms topping other London rankings, but few can compete with the extent of practice strengths that the magic circle can offer. This is the key to their identity. As an illustration, here are the first two rankings for three other practice areas, a controversial, a business support and a skilled trade.

You`ve probably heard of the phrase “the magic circle.” Not to be confused with the wizards` union of the same name, it`s a nickname for an elite group of five London law firms focused on corporate and financial work. The Economist referred to the magic circle as a group of “posh London law firms,” but we think you need a more useful definition than this. In 2004, Tim Clark, then senior partner at Slaughter and May, said, “It`s a fun concept. I do not know where the term comes from or who founded it. It`s especially something that comes up when we talk to journalists or when they talk to us. We do not refer to ourselves as a Magic Circle company in any of our marketing materials. [2] David Cheyne, then head of the company at Linklaters, said: “Law firms in the city provided each other with information years ago so they could stay in touch with what was going on, but that ended years ago. That sounds like a term to describe the city`s major businesses, and there`s some truth to that. [2] Henry Raine, then a partner at Herbert Smith Freehills and a former investment banker, said: “The phrase was coined by a law journal and referred to companies that were very strong in corporate or international work. At that time, Herbert Smith was languishing in the stakes of the company and was therefore banished into the outer darkness.

[2] Large corporations come in all shapes and sizes, from long-established organizations to individual practitioners, and act primarily on behalf of individuals. A person on the street can literally come in and ask for help with a legal problem. The Magic Circle has been described as a “journalistic tool invented by legal journalists after the dissolution of its predecessor, the Club of Nine.” [2] The Club of Nine was an informal group of law firms that included Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance, Freshfields (now Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer), Herbert Smith (now Herbert Smith Freehills), Linklaters, Lovells (now Hogan Lovells), Norton Rose (now Norton Rose Fulbright), Slaughter and May, and Stephenson Harwood. [2] The members of the “Club of Nine” had an informal “non-poaching” agreement and the firm`s senior partners met. [2] If you look back a few years, you`ll discover even better examples of the particular taste of the magic circle: Clifford Chance played for Kraft and Slaughters represented Cadbury in the fusion that resulted in a smaller, meaner cream egg; and Freshfields worked to host the London Olympics. In these business parks, the magic circle still dominates, occupying 13 of the 28 ranking places. Note, however, that the predominance of companies is less pronounced here than in the banking and financial and M&A rankings. In addition, the quintet`s main competitors in these areas are domestic British companies and not American ones, although you are sure that American companies are becoming more and more powerful. To get an overview of what sets each company apart in the magic circle, check out our True Picture features on businesses. Like their legal work, Magic Circle firms` business strategies tend to be innovative and innovative, for example, when it comes to international expansion, nearshoring or overseas recruitment. It is this motivation that attracts many students to these companies.

One Magic Circle intern told us, “The company`s business strategy is very ambitious and it`s in line with how I saw my own career and what I wanted from my own life.” The name, composition, and size of London`s most elite corporate group have gone through several iterations since the 1990s (at one point it was dubbed the “Club of Nine” and included Stephenson Harwood, Lovells, Herbert Smith, and Norton Rose). The term “magic circle” was first coined by legal journalists in the late 1990s and over the past 15 years it has consisted of a specific group of five: Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance, Freshfields, Linklaters and Slaughter and May. What distinguishes these firms from the rest of the UK legal market? Well, they are all large, based in London, and have considerable international operations. All have a training cohort of nearly 100 per year and have a reputation for having hard-working graduates who challenge many of them. The work is heavily focused on business and finance: these departments are at the heart of the business, which oversees multi-billion pound transactions. Teams such as employment, tax and intellectual property often play a supporting and advisory role to facilitate these transactions. And much of the process work is also financial in nature. When a big deal is announced in the mainstream press, you can be pretty sure that a magic circle company will have to advise at least one of the parties. If a big bank is involved, it`s almost a dead certificate. This predictive power can also reduce persistence (or decrease?) Measuring the importance of the magic circle in the future: If there is a time when these companies stop handling mega-transactions, then the term “magic circle” as a distinction would be removed in the same way that “white shoe” has become irrelevant in New York. In the City, we are already seeing large American companies reacting side by side with the magic circle to large global transactions. Clifford Chance went even further with a merger in 2000 – the first between major US and UK law firms – with New York-based white shoe firm Rogers & Wells to create a global behemoth.

That`s not to say that all the work of Magic Circle companies is economically painful, or that every major business transformation transaction involves exclusively Magic Circle companies, but there is a correlation. These five firms are far from the largest in the UK or the world, and many other London firms are large, corporate and very international (Hogan Lovells and Norton Rose Fulbright come to mind). So why do legal commentators (including us) single out this group of five? Read on to find out. So what sets the five magic circle companies apart from each other? Let`s start working. Historically, Slaughter and May, Freshfields and Linklaters have been best regarded for their corporate work and Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance for finance (i.e. banks and capital markets). This distinction is now largely debatable, as the corporate and financial practices of the five companies dwarf those of all but some of their competitors. But the distinction between business and finance within the circle is always reflected in Chambers UK`s rankings: rankings and reputation are all well and good, but what`s most important for the candidates is everyday life. Long hours are part of history. “I`m not going to lie, the hours can be crazy,” said one intern we spoke to. “You can`t push back,” another added. “If the customer says you stay late, you stay late.” This may mean that interns “can easily be [in the office] for weeks until midnight.” Sources at Magic Circle`s companies described their hours as “inhumane” and “nearly killed.” One intern once told us that they were “so exhausted for such a constant amount of time” that they “regularly fell asleep on the toilet.” Lav resistant.