The deluge of redundancies earlier in the year and the drip drip of falling financials might have had you worrying that the world was coming to an end. However, Legal Week has done some serious sifting through the rubble of the credit crunch and found that as of April this year, headcount in the professions’ top 50 had not suffered as expected (it actually grew) and revenues were up overall. Happy days.

Well not quite, before we get all over-excited about the rude health of the profession, it is worth noting that a large proportion of the redundancies have occurred in the current year. Furthermore, revenues were boosted by exposure to dollar and euro exchange rates, PEP fell across the board and national firms suffered worse than those with international exposure; with reduced workflow, widespread job cuts and plunging profitability. It is feared that 2009-10 stats will truly expose the pain caused by the downturn.

For anyone wanting a bit of light relief from the misery, they may feel disappointed too. Gossip stemming from cheeky antics in the office has been distinctly lacking this year; here’s why apparently:

According to completely non-scientific and anecdotal evidence we collected talking to an HR person at a major Wall Street firm, this isn’t happening anymore. The boom apparently encouraged this kind of crazed behavior and the decline has reigned it in.

“People just aren’t having sex in the office any more,” the HR person said. “It’s like the crash dampened their hormones.”

We’d bet that it is not just office sex, but bad behavior all around, that declines during troubled times.

Source: BankR

Of course if you do hear of any, you know where to send your stories.