We received the following comments from an anonymous Minters spy earlier this week that is suggestive of enduring, deep-seated hostility:
Some painfully upset Minter Ellison lawyers at the arbitrary fashion that budgets are set among practice group Christmas parties. Sure, all lawyers now know that the firm is too tight to actually pay for a proper firm-wide Christmas party, but it seems fair that each individual practice group party is run with approximately equal budgetary constraints. There has been much inneundo about how certain practice groups have significantly better Christmas party plans than other groups, with the relevant partners splashing more cash. It makes sense to me that eveything be done equally, or, better yet, the firm just stop stooging us and have a proper firm party!
Seems like a fair point to us; a proper firm party might even stop the embarrassing scuffles that are rumoured to have occurred. But would it appease the “top tier rejects” who purportedly congregate at the firm?
FS,
A few of my colleagues and I at a legitimate top-tier law firm had the misfortune last week of sharing an elevator ride with several big-noting Minter Ellison M&A lawyers. Each one of them had an identical A4 leather zip-up document holder. Are these wank-objects standard issue at Minters? Perhaps they were a Christmas present? Whichever is the answer, I think the sooner Minters lawyers realise that the firm is just a repositry of top-tier rejects, the better.
Ouch, that was harsh! But on the very interesting topic of Christmas presents, we received the following email from an anonymous tipster earlier today:
Hi, can you guys do stories on what the firms gave out as xmas presents? I heard Mallesons got iphones.. Bakers got country road bag, water bottle, gym towel, chocolates..
Sounds like the Bakers partnership wants staffers to get to the gym, while the Mallies grinches want fee-earners to have access to emails over the holiday break with their brand new iphone (those disingenuous buggers!).Both gifts sound a helluva lot better than what the folks at Blake Dawson were given:
This Christmas, Blake Dawson Perth (aka Boom Town) have rewarded their hard-working staff with a…standard size photoframe with a Blake Dawson-themed cartoon in it. That’s right, no bonus, no flashy gift to thank them for working 70+ hours a week!
Sonofabitch! Let’s hope that cartoon depiction wasn’t Blake Dawson the homoerotic actor. What did you get for Christmas? Tell us in the comments below.
In the spirit of giving, the miserly folks at Deloitte have “given” staffers a two week break from the office at the comparatively meagre cost of … half a year’s annual leave. Yes, Deloitte is shutting down on 23/12/2011 and will not reopen its doors until 09/01/2012. That’s two-weeks annual leave gone, right there. Not ideal if an employee is already stretched in terms of annual leave and needs to go into a leave deficit. Most other firms (accounting and legal) are forcing staff to take 27/12 – 30/12 (4 days), before reopening on 3 January 2012. Tell us what your firms is doing: news@firmspy.com.
Finally, we were forwarded this scandalously woeful Christmas e-card from Minter Ellison. Note the rotund and balding man indecently assualting the unassuming female – a misguided attempt, we think, to place Oliver and the blind sheep who work for him while his kids skylark on the family jetboat, squarely into client consciousness when they’re trying to rest over the holiday season. E-FAIL!
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No Christmas presents at my firm, but there will be workgroup parties, a firmwide party and discretionary bonuses.
But really, is anybody happy at this time of year unless they get an iPhone, a promotion and someone else paying for drinks?
YouTube “The High Price of Materialism”. And we wonder why there is a high level of psychological distress in the profession.
The comparisons are interesting and entertaining, but must be kept in perspective.
Stop the deceit. You say “most accounting firms are … reopening on 3 Jan”.
Name one.
Most of the smaller end of town seems to be closed from the 23rd ’till the 9th.
KPMG is also shut at the cost of 7 days annual leave until 9 Jan…
Our gift was donated to a third world charity. I’m not a Grinch but it stung after I billed 147 hours in the last fortnight.
You’re kidding aren’t you FS?
EVERY professional services firm closes for 2 weeks over Xmas and New Years and have done for at least the 8 years ive worked in one. Maybe you should name all firms rather than make out that it is Deloitte being Christmas grinches…
@Anon – We (insolvency accountants) are open right through, closed only on public holidays.
@ Stretching It
Incorrect. Mallesons is closing on 23 Dec and re-opening on 4 January.
The minter guys in the lift had ipads.
“A few of my colleagues and I at a legitimate top-tier law firm had the misfortune last week of sharing an elevator ride with several big-noting Minter Ellison M&A lawyers. Each one of them had an identical A4 leather zip-up document holder. Are these wank-objects standard issue at Minters? Perhaps they were a Christmas present? Whichever is the answer, I think the sooner Minters lawyers realise that the firm is just a repositry of top-tier rejects, the better.”
I am not Minters and probably not at a “legitimate top-tier” according to this poster, but FS can you please let us know which firm in particular is legitimate, so that I can make sure I never, ever, end up working with people like this?
“Some painfully upset Minter Ellison lawyers at the arbitrary fashion that budgets are set among practice group Christmas parties”
I for one think it’s a bold move to set budgets among the goings-on at Christmas parties. Does it occur in-between the partner’s drunken karaoke and the inappropriate ogling of the younger staff?
Cute that Minter’s cards feature sheep. The clients, I presume.
BDO’s Sydney office will be closed (except if you get permissionto work from QE2 & the Pope simultaneously) from 23rd Dec to 16th Jan 2012. As you say, bad luck about the annual leave going down the drain.
@anon(2)
Boutiques with a market need sure. But find me any non mono service firm not shutting down for less than 2 weeks. The reality is that this has been the way dying good times and bad for the past 15 years at least.
It is both good practice for business and staff to take time off. Just as staff can direct how they spend the other 13 days of leave largely at their discretion, it is not unreasonable for an employer to have a say about how it runs it’s business.
And finally – its a great time of year to properly relax and spend with family and friends. Enjoy!!
Offered to be on stand by over the break thinking that I wouldn’t have to take leave, made sense seeing as I didn’t have plans. Only after volunteering did I realise we still had to take leave and only if you are called in will your leave be refunded. Seems like my firm wants to have the cake and eat it. If there is no work, you use up your leave but you can’t make plans. If there is work, you only get refunded for the days you work.
To the partners of law firms, do you realise that it’s not good to have disgruntled employees or do you realise that it’s unproductive to shaft employees at every opportunity. You will pay for your tightness one day!
Worth noting that Xmas card is actually from Minter Ellison *Rudd Watts* – the NZ arm of the firm. Might explain the sheep…
“FS,
A few of my colleagues and I at a legitimate top-tier law firm had the misfortune last week of sharing an elevator ride with several big-noting Minter Ellison M&A lawyers. Each one of them had an identical A4 leather zip-up document holder. Are these wank-objects standard issue at Minters? Perhaps they were a Christmas present? Whichever is the answer, I think the sooner Minters lawyers realise that the firm is just a repositry of top-tier rejects, the better.
”
To all you top tier people at “top tier” law firms looking down at others (in particular the one who wrote the above)…. one day in the not too distant future it will dawn on you that you will not not make partner at your coveted firm. Bask in the alleged glory while it lasts…
No xmas gifts at mallesons as yet . Doubt it would be iphones . We did have a snazzy merger info pack sitting on our desks in the morning though.
“EVERY professional services firm closes for 2 weeks over Xmas and New Years and have done for at least the 8 years ive worked in one. Maybe you should name all firms rather than make out that it is Deloitte being Christmas grinches…”
Such an absolute statement – really shows just how little you know.
When I worked at large insolvency firms (even in quiet times !) the office closure period was only 3/4 days – and it wasn’t that hard to get an exemption if you had work on through that period.
Christmas shutdown is a reality for most people out there in white collar jobs…. I used to hate it (I work in financial services) but have now realised that coming back from leave without the backlog of voicemails and emails is actually quite nice!
All i can hear is ‘me me me me me’. Shut up and grow up and realise u work for a business not a company that owes u whatever u want on demand!
Grant Thornton in Brisbane reopens on 3 January. Its the 9th for the other GT offices though.
Clearly the ‘legitimate top tier’ lawyer/douchebag isn’t bright enough to spot the delicious irony in criticising others for big noting themselves and/or being arrogant through big noting and arrogance. I am suprised the story by FS was uncritical of the wankers who provided this gem of an observation.
Who really looks at the world with such a superiority complex and then let something so trivial fester enough to the point of writing in to FS about it? Sadly, I think I may have the answer. Could it be that Linklaters forgot to recruit some of the ‘finance elite’ or have they already realised the mistakes of their recruiting and sent some packing already? http://firmspy.com/mallesons-stephen-jaques/5880/linklaters-raid-gets-real-whole-raft-of-mallesons-finance-associates-jumping-ship
FML, did you seriously think that being on ‘stand by’ would mean you’d continue to be paid, have no leave deducted and you could just sit around waiting for instructions? Seriously? No, really, seriously?
Regardless of whether you are having leave forced on you or not I think most of you should be thankful that at this stage that you still have a job to come back to as most of your colleagues in Europe and the U.S are being made redundant over this period. Maybe when a few mass lay-off’s start happening in the new year here in Australia will people realise that companies force people to take leave because their balance sheet is usually close to the critical red level where debt levels cause banks to withdraw funding and call in their loans. Forced leave is one way to get it into the black. The other is cutting staff. Guess I know what I would prefer.
I think the Mallesons guys got ipods, not iphones.
Parts of PwC are 23rd to the 16th of jan. I like summer though so yay!
Mallesons and Freehills staffers can meet up… Freehills employees got portable speakers for their iPods/mp3 players.
Minters employees got a set of knives…comes in handy for slitting wrists, or …
clayton utz closing today and reopening 3 January
Many professionals at my firm are owed 4 to 8 weeks of annual leave. Why are half the people here whinging about “having” to take 7 days of annual leave during the New Year period? Weird. Maybe you could actually relax a bit.
If the office wasn’t closed, then these people would front up every day retaining their annual leave until some time when it gets paid out (probably after they leave the firm due to burn out)
Yep, I agree. There is a reason firms enforce a Christmas shutdown and it is to try and get control of their leave liability.
I think we are all in for a bit of a shock this year with regards to redundancies, and I know I would rather have a job and a low leave balance than no job at all!