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Decisions like this reduce demand for office space in London. If new employers do not soon move into the spaces vacated, and employ more people, then London rents will fall until they do. And if Freshfields' clients are prepared to keep paying high rates, Freshfields will continue to charge them, and if clients are not, then either they won't, or they will lose clients. That is how market forces work, anon at 4.15pm, and there's nothing wrong with it. David Crawford's concern for his staff is admirable, but redundancy has been a fact of life at least since the agricultural revolution. Everyone knows that it's a Faustian pact with these mega-firms; that is why they pay well.