A&O Shearman has delayed the start date for a group of its associates to January, according to a person familiar with the decision.
The firm conventionally offers first-year associates the option of two unspecified start dates, and late-start lawyers are given the option of a salary advance, the person said.
A&O Shearman is the product of a tie up between Wall Street firm Shearman & Sterling and the UK “Magic Circle” firm Allen and Overy, which closed in May last year. The merger ranks A&O Shearman as the fourth largest among Big Law competitors by revenue.
Some Big Law firms have delayed associate start dates in recent years as a belt-tightening measure in response to slowing demand. Despite revenue ticking up an average of 11% for the top 100 firms in the first quarter of this year, demand for work has been patchy owing to the tariff war and global economic uncertainty.
A group of A&O Shearman associates pushed back against leadership shortly before their decision to join several major law firms in committing legal services in a series of deals with President Trump, in order to avoid punitive orders like those targeting other firms and to resolve federal probes into diversity programs.
In June, nine London attorneys, including eight associates, left the firm to rejoin a pair of structured finance partners who moved to Latham & Watkins months earlier.
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