Good news at the lower end of the profession. Proving it’s not all redundancies and pay freezes for junior lawyers, Legally India reported on Monday that Clifford Chance hired two lawyers from its Gurgaon-based legal support centre as associates. One is headed for the Abu Dhabi capital markets team and the other will join the London banking team.

Meanwhile, Mayer Brown has promoted 14 associates to its partnership across its international network. Although any progression is good in this environment, it is a 52% drop compared to last year when 27 associates were promoted.

And the lucky folks at Allen & Overy will suffer less from post-Christmas famine than most. The firm brought forward this year’s bonuses so they will now be paid out in January rather than July. Future bonuses will be announced in July and paid in November.

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