ALB's Asia readers love a good downturn story, if traffic statistics from this website are anything to go by. The top read stories on the ALB Asia site last month were a veritable cacophony of doom and gloom, including our account of layoffs at Lovells and Hogan & Hartson and poor financials at Latham & Watkins.  However, the introduction of compulsory continuing legal education in Singapore  also attracted considerable interest - perhaps, for those opposed to the change, bad news of a different kind?

Meanwhile in Australia, the economic downturn has not managed to penetrate ALB's  chart of popular stories. A bit of juicy industry talk concerning Corrs Chambers Westgarth  got mouses clicking down under, as did the merger of Dibbs Abbott Stillman in Melbourne with Thomson Playford Cutlers.  And alas, Cleo's hunt for attractive Aussie lawyers also managed to attract a significant level of interest.  It seems that the "talent" on offer was not to the taste of all, with one reader sourly commenting that it was no wonder that Cleo could not find a suitable candidate given that "arrogance and an overblown sense of entitlement shows on the face."  Ouch.