Linklaters gets tough as City downturn hits
TENSE days for the City's legal eagles. Any thought that the Magic Circle of leading law firms are immune from the credit crunch can be scotched by the news that Linklaters is to overhaul the firm's structure, slashing up to 70 partners and 10% of associates.
According to The Lawyer, the programme, understood to be called Linklaters New World, will also see redundancies among support staff. The firm's offices in Western Europe are thought to be most vulnerable to cuts. A source close to the firm is quoted as saying: “We're in a very difficult market and the rational thing is to ensure things are on a firm financial footing. There's a high degree of consensus [within Linklaters]. I've not seen any dissent or sense of unhappiness about this.” Fair enough. But then the same source goes on to say: “The approach is to ensure that the firm remains the market leader and do whatever it takes. You're not going to maintain profitability at boom levels but you can maintain relative profitability. It's a directed business. The job of the management of this business is to manage the f***ing thing.”
Excuse us. “F***ing thing”? Since when did anyone speak of the venerable Linklaters in such terms. And we're supposed to think “there's a high degree of consensus”! Yeah, right.

Fallen Merrill man is InThain'
MERRILL Lynch's nickname for John Thain, the bank's former chief executive: “InThain.” This is the same John Thain (below, right) who reportedly spent $1.2 million redecorating his downtown Manhattan office last year as the company was firing people. Thain paid Michael Smith, chosen by the Obamas to refresh the White House, $837,000. Among the items Smith bought, were rugs ($87,000) a pedestal table ($25,000) and a 19th century credenza ($68,000).

German talk on Gresham St
BEMUSED staff at Dresdner Kleinwort's London HQ on Gresham Street had been long used to the house custom that all internal communications were couched in the English language. Now, following DK's annexation by Commerzbank, a torrent of memos have been appearing in German, to the bemusement of monoglot traders, some of whom have obviously used the mysterious Google translating tool in an attempt to understand their new masters' instructions. Other cadres will no doubt do what modern bankers do best — that is, ignore reality and hope that things will improve.

Building on hold in MoscowBAD news for Norman Foster. The star architect has been all the rage in Russia and some neighbouring former Soviet Union countries for some time. Now various grand designs have been put on hold following the slump in the Russian building industry. Lord Foster, 73, who has also designed two cultural centres in Kazakhstan, has no fewer than seven projects on the go in Russia — including Siberia's first skyscraper. But plans to build Moscow's tallest building, the £1 billion Russia Tower, have been shelved, work has come to a halt on his redevelopment of the Hotel Rossia, overlooking Red Square and St Basil's Cathedral, and another development close to the Kremlin has run into difficulties. But one project is bound to come to fruition, the £200 million expansion of the State Pushkin Museum of Fine Art. President Dmitry Medvedev has personally guaranteed the plan.

MUCH jumping up and down in Switzerland's watch industry. The Swiss spotted a long time ago that President Obama always used to wear a TAG Heuer, Series 1500, which he appeared to love dearly. But he had been given a Secret Service watch on his 46th birthday by his Secret Service team, stamped with their logo. Which did he choose for his inauguration? The Secret Service. But the Swiss attitude is most odd: TAG Heuer has been owned since 1999 by French luxury goods giant LVMH.