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Weil Gotshal hikes NQ salaries by 20% to £90,000

Author: Caroline Grimshaw

Published: 15/06/2007 13:09

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Weil Gotshal & Manges will pay its London newly-qualified lawyers £90,000 after boosting its salaries by 20% to pay the same level as many of Wall Street’s elite.

The mid-Atlantic firm internally announced the pay bands today (15 June) and has increased all other associate bands by around 17%. The newly-qualified figure has risen from £75,000,  while salaries for three year-qualified lawyers have risen from £98,000 to £114,660.

The figures will jolt London’s top-tier legal community, which is already reacting to significant pay rises by magic circle firms such as Linklaters. Weil Gotshal’s rates will position it as one of London’s top-paying firms, well ahead of the standard magic circle rate of around £65,000.

Weil Gotshal corporate partner Jonathan Wood told Legal Week: “We want to make sure we are looking after our people, who are doing some pretty exciting deals, and make sure they are appropriately rewarded as well as relying just on our deal flow to attract new people.”

He added: “We wanted to put clear blue water between ourselves and our competitors and pitch this at a level which reflects the quality of people we have and those we would like to join us. However, we felt that anything above £90,000 would be too toppy for a newly-qualified lawyer.”

Earlier this year a number of leading Manhattan firms increased their salaries in the US; figures that are directly converted in London. Sullivan & Cromwell pays newly-qualified lawyers $160,000 (£81,000) while Simpson Thacher & Bartlett upped its rates to $145,000 (£73,000).

The majority of Manhattan’s legal elite pay $160,000 (£81,000) for newly-qualified lawyers in the US and the UK. However, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton pays London lawyers £92,000 as it uses a conversion rate of $1.75 to the pound.

The move comes after it emerged last month that US giant Latham & Watkins is to pay its London newly-qualified associates £96,000, as it also uses an outdated exchange rate to convert its US starting salary of £81,000.

Talkback: Would you rather be at Weil Gotshal? How does your firm compare? To visit the Legal Week Wiki pay round special, click here.

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