Legal Week newspaper reports that the offers were made because of business activity levels, with a spokesperson explaining that ‘we asked for a small number of volunteers to defer their training contacts. Three people from the September 2013 intake volunteered, and they will be deferred for 12 months.’

Redundancies

In 2009, Mayer Brown put back the start dates of half of its new trainees to January 2010, without offering any financial incentive.
Mayer Brown is currently also in the process of consulting regarding a series of London redundancies, which could affect 20 members of staff.
The development comes shortly after Wragge & Co unsuccessfully offered £5,000 to its September trainee intake to defer for a year, which none of the trainees accepted.