With Christmas fast approaching, it seems as though the bookies are counting on us having a bit of the white stuff to frolic in. That is no-doubt delightful for partners enjoying early profit payouts at Addleshaws but there are probably many associates who are looking forward to a long cold winter without a regular pay check. As yet more blood of fresh redundancies leeches into the fresh snowy downpour of this week things are starting to look very bleak.

As a mild distraction we included this funny pic as those well known lawyers the Clintons are back at the political fore with Hillary’s appointment as Obama’s Secretary of State. But back to the bad news…

Travers Smith is making four associates across its real estate and corporate groups redundant and is in the process of trying to find them alternative employment.

Reed Smith has launched a redundancy consultation in the UK with 11 associate jobs under threat. 115 members of support staff across its US offices are also likely to face the axe.

Bristol firm Osborne Clarke is to make eight fee earners and one member of support staff redundant in its corporate and real estate practices.

And even BPP Law School is in consultation with 11 of its Bar Vocational Course tutors – three are likely to go.

This is all horrible stuff, not the cheer one wants on a Friday but at least insolvency lawyers at Linklaters’ will be set for a while with the firm’s high-profile role on Lehman Brothers’ administration. According to Legal Week the firm is now regularly billing more than £1m a week.