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}}{{dpn|/ˈmæʤɪk ˈsɜːkl lɔː fɜːm/<br>(Also (''chiefly Seppo'') “[[white-shoe law firm|white-shoe ~]]” ; “[[big law]]”)|n|}} | }}{{dpn|/ˈmæʤɪk ˈsɜːkl lɔː fɜːm/<br>(Also (''chiefly Seppo'') “[[white-shoe law firm|white-shoe ~]]” ; “[[big law]]”)|n|}} | ||
Known in the commonwealth as the “[[magic circle]]”, and in the new world as “[[big law]]”, these large multinational legal service organisations issue curiously [[Bright-line test|non-committal]] [[legal opinion]]s and fulfil an essential but hard-to-articulate role in vouchsafing the orderly operation of the world’s financial markets. As such, they are one of the few international enterprises whose business model was wholly unaffected by the global financial crisis. | |||
=== | ===Magick circle and the occult=== | ||
As the reference to [[Magick]] suggests | As the reference to [[Magick circle|magick]] suggests, there is something of the occult in these organisations: | ||
*'''Nocturnal''': Magic circle | *'''Nocturnal''': [[Private practice lawyer|Magic circle lawyer]]s are basically vampiric and, by day, repose in crates of salted earth in crypts beneath their offices. This can lead to disappointment, particularly among the sunshine-loving trading folk, who naively expect a draft promised “today” to arrive during the hours of daylight, and not to the accompaniment of moonlit dire-wolves at four o’clock the following morning. | ||
*'''Undead''': For the same reason it is literally impossible to work private practice lawyers to death, because they are already undead. As long as you like your work late and impenetrable, they will carry on dancing as long as you are prepared to keep paying for the children of the night to make their music. | |||
*'''Soul selling''': There is something Faustian about the bargains one strikes with magic circle law firms. Young clerks sell their souls in return for knowledge, power and unlimited wealth (though the trade is reversed from that proposed by Goethe: here it is soul and damnation first, wealth and power later). | *'''Soul selling''': There is something Faustian about the bargains one strikes with magic circle law firms. Young clerks sell their souls in return for knowledge, power and unlimited wealth (though the trade is reversed from that proposed by Goethe: here it is soul and damnation first, wealth and power later). | ||
*'''Spiritual possession''': Whole [[investment bank]] [[legal department]]s have been known to fall under the mendacious swoon of a single firm. In some cases even repeated efforts | *'''Spiritual possession''': Whole [[investment bank]] [[legal department]]s have been known to fall under the mendacious swoon of a single firm. In some cases even repeated efforts by a specially trained [[chief operating officer|exorcist]] to cast out these malign influences over a possessed [[general counsel]] have foundered. | ||
===Gravity-defying [[charge-out rate]]s=== | ===Gravity-defying [[charge-out rate]]s=== | ||
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The rate of increase in [[charge-out rates]] and, yea, even law firm revenues, has been so steady as to draw comparisons with the performance of Fairfield Sentry’s investment in [[Madoff|Madoff Securities]]. No-one tell Harry Markopolos. | The rate of increase in [[charge-out rates]] and, yea, even law firm revenues, has been so steady as to draw comparisons with the performance of Fairfield Sentry’s investment in [[Madoff|Madoff Securities]]. No-one tell Harry Markopolos. | ||
But it is not just the steady increase in [[charge-out rates]] which has the feel of a conjuring trick about it | But it is not just the steady increase in [[charge-out rates]] which has the feel of a conjuring trick about it. | ||
Now it is no part of the [[JC]]’s intention to suggest complicity, neglect or even carelessness on the part of these law firms — they are peopled by tireless, astute and upright people, to be sure — but it is to wonder about [[Causation|cause]] and [[Correlation|effect]]. | === Responsibility be gone === | ||
The Magic Circle’s showpiece is surely how it can make personal responsibility disappear without a trace, simply by waving a [[legal opinion]] at it. The lion’s share of the economic interactions that precipitated the dot-com bust, the Russian crisis, [[Enron]]’s collapse, the credit crunch, [[Bernard Madoff]]’s gargantuan fraud, the [[global financial crisis]], the London Whale, WireCard, 1MDB —all of these will have been done under the watchful eye and diligent documentary assistance of law firms, not one of which has sustained so much as a claim on its professional indemnity insurance policy as far as has been widely reported. | |||
Now it is no part of the [[JC]]’s intention to suggest complicity, neglect or even carelessness on the part of these law firms — they are peopled by tireless, astute and upright people, to be sure — but it ''is'' to wonder about [[Causation|cause]] and [[Correlation|effect]]. | |||
For, if every phase of [[Lehman]]’s overreach and eventual collapse can have been accompanied by expensively rendered, diligently composed and conscientiously delivered [[legal advice]], and no part of that advice can be faulted, its recipients might pause to wonder what ''good'' it did — and, for that matter, ''does'', even when provided to firms which are ''not'' in present danger of imploding. | For, if every phase of [[Lehman]]’s overreach and eventual collapse can have been accompanied by expensively rendered, diligently composed and conscientiously delivered [[legal advice]], and no part of that advice can be faulted, its recipients might pause to wonder what ''good'' it did — and, for that matter, ''does'', even when provided to firms which are ''not'' in present danger of imploding. | ||