"Hooray for all the defendant law firms!", writes one poster on the SFO pharma story, "now ill people will have to pay more to get better." Join the debate. And readers are also rowing over the merits of A-level law - a useful qualification or just for "ignorant, gel-haired cheeseballs"? Have your say.
Plus: Clifford Chance's US litigation losses; Smarties are the answer; the generational shift in private equity practices; taxing times for Herbies; new Switzerland and real estate special reports and does anyone really have a transatlantic litigation practice?
And as Herbies ally Gleiss Lutz pulls out of Central Europe, read our Central Europe special report for context.

Herbies faces taxing times
What a difference a month can make. Herbert Smith’s decision to backtrack on changing the date of its financial year-end for tax purposes says a lot about the firm and its management. And it says even more about the pressures currently facing the UK legal market in general.

Safety in numbers

It was Cravath Swaine & Moore that set the bonus trend last year with special awards for associates. This year the firm may well be setting trends again – but for very different reasons.


Knowing your outplace

As redundancy packages go, that offered by Nabarro to the 22 staff currently in consultation is on the good side of average.

UK and US firms win Singapore licences

BPP Law School confirms job cuts

A-level Law not a "soft" option, claim students