Firm of the Year 2012: A&O triumphs again in battle of the Magic Circle
Roll on Friday finally released the results of their “Firm of the Year: 2012″ survey for the UK, and Magic Circle power Allen & Overy again fared quite well, although RoF noted that “by comparison, the leading US firms did much better.”
“Overall Scores
Allen & Overy cemented its position at the head of group, coming 22nd out of 56 with a 68% overall score. That’s the same score as last year, although that tally would have claimed tenth place last time round. The firm managed decent scores across the board, but it was the firm’s young bucks who proved to be most enthusiastic: if the survey only took students’ and trainees’ feedback into account, A&O would have come in at 13th.”
Of course, there was the usual issue in that ranking firm’s with the “best” work/life balance has to be taken with a small grain of salt:
“Work-Life Balance
It’s probably not much of a shock that work/life balance really dragged the corporate powerhouses down the rankings. In fact, Slaughter and May excepted, the Magic Circle made up four of the five lowest scoring firms for work-life balance, and only Macfarlanes fared worse. “All work and no play” A&O was singled out for a “pay:hours ratio [that] can result in you earning less than minimum wage“, even if one starry eyed lawyer claimed the firm “always [does] a better job than the other firms on a deal“. Linklaters propped up the work-life balance table, scoring 45% for “ridiculous” and “ruthless” hours.”
2012 Firm of the Year Results
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