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updated on 20 July 2012
Not on quite the same scale as the desperate times of 2009, but a couple of firms have recently been asking their future trainees to defer their places in exchange for a cash payment, citing "business activity levels" as the reason.
Legal Week reports that Mayer Brown recently offered its 47 future trainees, due to join the London office, the option to defer their training contracts by 12 months, with a one-off payment of £10,000 as part of the deal. Just three people from the September 2013 intake took up the offer - the remaining number will start as previously agreed.
Wragge & Co also recently asked its September 2012 intake to consider deferring for a year in exchange for £5,000. No-one took up the offer.