| COVER STORY: Bad habits Legal Business asks who is responsible for Hammonds' poor state of health |
 Hammonds' equity partners will glance in vain at our new Job of the Month initiative that can be admired in the appointments pages which follow - they have recently agreed to a lock-in that sees them unable to resign from the firm until mid-2006. It's an understandable ploy by Hammonds' new managing partner, Peter Crossley, who faces the enormous task of turning around a firm that grew too fast, became burdened with debt, and exercised too little financial prudence. Recruiters recall that hiring partners during a boom is like shooting fish in a barrel. But getting the right blend of people to nurture an international legal business is far harder, particularly when you transform so profoundly from your regional roots. London isn't paved with gold, it's paved with warning signs to which Osborne Clarke or Wragge & Co would happily point, were you to listen. These firms have now turned things around. Now, as DLA Piper Rudnick announced its £752m of fee income and profits of £535,000 per equity partner, remember this: Hammonds was once the more fancied of the two firms. Now, its profits barrel is truly being scraped. The gung-ho brazenness of the corporate lawyers who took Hammonds into London and Europe - Chris Jones, who has left the executive, and Richard Burns, who hasn't - is perfectly contrasted by Crossley's quiet determination. All eyes are now on him as the firm attempts to give up the excesses of past indulgences. Tom Freeman, Editor 
LEGAL BUSINESS APPOINTMENTS | THE LEADER Pritchard
Don't let Legal Aid become a thing of the past | THE BUSINESS
James Baxter's news leader, and all the month's news, analysis and comment that counts. Plus The Source - the section for top law firm clients | THE FORUM Pro bono; Clementi in Scotland
Part 1 - Pro bono: City tensions
Part 2 - The dangers for Scotland in ignoring Clementi |  LB100+ Elite horizons
Legal Business identifies the most vibrant regional law firms currently outside of the Legal Business 100 main list. Stephen J Doggett, Anthony Notaras and Sam Kenworthy provide analysis of tomorrow's British legal elite |  LINKLATERS' FUTURE LEADERS Into the frame
The future of Linklaters will be overseen by two very different men. In the build-up to the firm's critical senior partner election, James Baxter outlines the options for a firm with two key, competing, empires | EXCESS INTEREST Pocketed - the Pass It On initiative
Interest earned on client moneys is worth up to £100,000 a year to the largest UK law firms. Allen & Overy has had a generous idea - but Camilla Sutton discovers that it's proving hard to inspire similar initiatives in others | HAMMONDS Bad habits
Hammonds' profits are sinking fast; partners have to be locked in and leavers are threatening legal action. Richard Lloyd asks who should be held responsible for the poor health of a once mighty practice |  FINLAND Flying the Neste
Finland's economy is said to be 'the most competitive in the world'. Huma Qureshi assesses just how far the country's law firms can progress | THE BACK PAGE
Remember Andersen Legal? Three years on, we check up on the survivors |
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