With the wave of of redundancies in UK law firms showing signs of intensifying,  a small ray of hope comes from US law firms, according to a legal recruiter.

Nick Root,  partner at Taylor Root, told Recruiter: “US law firms in London don’t have the vast numbers at UK law firms, and whilst they will be affected by the global slowdown they aren’t making redundancies in the same way.”

Root said that any upturn in the market depended on the banks, but that no one had any idea when this might be.  “Things will probably get worse before they get better as  it’s only now that large legal firms are starting to make redundancies,” he added.  

Last Wednesday, magic circle firm Linklaters confirmed that it is shedding up to 270 jobs in London.  This followed close on the heels of Clifford Chance announcing 80 job losses.