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1、UNITFIVETEXTONEBoostedbyboominginternationalfinancialmarkets,theCityofLondonhasnothaditsogoodsincetheendofthedotcombonanzainthelate1990s.Baskingindouble-digitgrowthrates,London'slawfirmshavebothcontributedtothatsuccessandbenefitedfromit.TheearningsoftopCitylawyerscannowe
2、xceed£2mayear.Havingoptedtoexpandandgoglobalaheadofmostothers,Britain'sleadinglawfirmstendtobebiggerthantheirAmericanrivals.Indeed,accordingtoasurveyoftheworld'stop50lawfirms,compiledbyLegalBusiness,aBritishtradepaper,fiveoftheworld'stopsixlawfirms—intermsofturnover—aren
3、owBritish(ifDLAPiper,theresultofanAnglo-Americanmerger,isincluded).Buttheyhavetendedtolagbehindintermsoftheirprofitability.Thatisnowchanging.TheprofitmarginsoftheCity'sfive“magiccircle”firms—CliffordChance,SlaughterandMay,Allen&Overy,LinklatersandFreshfields—havesoaredin
4、recentyearsandarenowcomparablewith,ifnothigherthan,thoseofNewYork's“whiteshoe”elite.SlaughterandMay,theonlyoneofthefivenottohavegoneglobal,hasthejointsecond-highestprofitmarginamongthetop50.Notsolongago,aLondonsurgeoncouldexpecttoearnasmuchasaCitylawyer.Buteventherecentb
5、igrisesinhospitalconsultants'earningspallincomparisonwiththoseenjoyedbyLondonlawyers.AtSlaughterandMay,forexample,averageprofitsperequitypartner(PEP)jumpedbyalmostathird(indollarterms)lastyearto$2.75m—morethanatanyotherofthetop50lawfirmsbartwoinNewYorkwherePEPaveraged$2.
6、8mand$3.0mrespectively.Someseniorpartnersgetalotmoreofcourse.Competitionforthebestlawyersisfierceandpoachingfrequent.HencetheneedtokeepheadlinePEPfiguresup—evenatthecostofgettingridofequitypartners,leavingabiggershareofthebountyfortheremainingones.Freshfieldsisintheproce
7、ssofsheddingaround100ofitsequitypartners.Otherleadingfirmsarealsoundertakingpainfulrestructuring.Newlyqualifiedlawyers'salarieshavealsobeenshootingupinthesearchforthebesttalent.BothFreshfieldsandAllen&Overynowpaytheirfirst-yearassociates£65,000,risingtoaround£90,000after
8、threeyears.(First-yearassociatesatAmerica'stoplawfirmsgettheequivalentof£80,000.)But,asmanyothertop-ran
