Some firms are adding morale in a downturn

What happens when an irresistible force meets an immoveable object? The force in this case is the worst recession in at least 25 years smashing against the immoveable sense of self and ambition of the bright young things drawn to law. Judging by the initial results of Legal Week Intelligence's annual Employee Satisfaction Survey, the forces are to a considerable extent cancelling each other out; as major law firms have unleashed redundancy rounds and pay freezes, collective satisfaction among junior lawyers isn't that different to when firms were throwing cash and lifestyle initiatives at the grumbling junior ranks. It seems the realities of recession have dented the confidence – sense of entitlement, even – that was a defining characteristic of Gen Y lawyers. In a market in which most are happy to have a job, they are less likely to complain even as firms treat them with far less generosity.

That is the overall picture. Looking at individual firms underlines the extent to which some are making the best of a crisis, while others are making their own drama. Overall, many large firms have seen modest falls in satisfaction scores, but a decent number have done an admirable job of maintaining the troops' morale – and a similar proportion a good job of wrecking it.

But it is not a simple equation of job cuts = miserable assistants. Obviously, heavy job cuts have damaged staff satisfaction at firms, unsurprising given that no-one goes into law for the risky career path. This is particularly notable in the case of DLA Piper and, to a lesser extent, Linklaters. But associates judge their work satisfaction on a range of factors: among them salary, career prospects and quality of work – and firms that score well on those counts can generally depend on committed and motivated staff, as can be seen by Linklaters' reasonably high ranking. It is also notable that supposedly cut-throat City firms have outperformed the national and regional firms that were thought to have a bigger lifestyle sell.

And firms seen to have undertaken restructurings in a credible and fairly-spread manner have maintained goodwill to a far greater extent than those regarded as mean-spirited and cack-handed. The obvious example is Allen & Overy (A&O), which retained its position as one of the top-ranked large firms despite this year launching the most comprehensive restructuring yet seen at a major legal practice. If the firm can sustain this mood among its staff, in five years A&O's restructuring will be a case study in how to handle high-stakes shake-ups without gutting your brand and murdering morale. Some other firms may want to take action quickly before they end up being a study of the what-not-to-do variety.