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Latham boosts City pay with dollar exchange rate freeze

Author: georgina.stanley@legalweek.com

Published: 24/05/2007 02:37

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Latham & Watkins is handing out bigger pay packets to its London associates than those in New York, with the US firm emerging as one of the highest-paying outfits in the City.

The top five US giant confirmed that its newly-qualified solicitors are now paid around £96,000 before bonuses, with the firm converting its standard US starting salary of $160,000 (£81,000) according to an exchange rate set two years ago.

Latham told Legal Week the firm is using a conversion rate of roughly $1.65 to the pound, which gives the pound a significantly lower value in comparison to the current exchange rate, which currently stands at almost $2/£1.

The bulk of Manhattan’s legal elite currently pay a standard rate of $160,000 for newly-qualified lawyers in both London and the US, but a newly-qualified lawyer at Latham takes home £4,000 more a year than his or her equivalent at the local arm of US rival Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, which itself employs an outdated conversion rate of around $1.75/£1 — equating to £92,000 a year.

However, while many US firms operate a bonus system, lawyers in Latham’s London office are not all guaranteed an award.

Cleary London partner Glen Scarcliffe commented: “All our offices have some kind of exchange rate protection so the Americans are taken care of.”

Additional reporting by James Illman.

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