Since the height of the financial crisis, management at large law firms have become notoriously more ruthless at putting underperforming partners on the chopping block to keep their firms competitive. At the same time, the war for talent has been steadily heating up: ambitious new entrants from the US are continuing to tempt partners away from their old UK firms some of which, in turn, are still embarking on their own lateral hiring sprees. In this competitive environment some older partners are also opting to retire to get out of the race.