Linklaters has announced rises of nearly 4% for junior lawyers, Legal Week can reveal, in what will be seen as a confident move from the City giant.
A newly-qualified solicitor (NQ) at the magic circle law firm is now set to earn £66,600, up from £64,000 in 2007.
Moving through the bands, the percentage increase drops to 2% for lawyers with one year post-qualification experience (PQE), who will earn £70,400. Second-year-qualified lawyers see a similar rise, moving from £81,000 to £82,600. Pay for a third-year-qualified lawyer rises from £89,000 to £90,800.
Trainees’ pay will rise 4% from £36,000 to £37,400 in the first seat.
The rises put Linklaters ahead of starting salaries offered at Clifford Chance (CC), Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Allen & Overy (A&O), which have all yet to announce their 2008-09 pay structure.
The move represents a more far modest rise than the bumper increase of 16% unveiled by Linklaters last year but marks the third consecutive year in which the firm has raised its core pay bands for junior lawyers.
The move will be seen as an expression of the firm’s confidence given that the global turmoil in credit markets and the slowdown in deal activity had led some City lawyers to predict that the pay bands would generally go unchanged this year. In comparison, inflation-busting pay hikes awarded by City law firms in 2000 and 2001 where effectively frozen until 2006.
In addition, Linklaters also operates what is regarded as one of the most generous bonus schemes in the City, which can allow top-performers to earn as much as 50% of their base salary.
New York’s Shearman & Sterling also yesterday (29 April) announced a 7% hike in its London-based associate pay-bands, putting its NQs on £80,000 a year – among the highest rates in the City.
Evidence of continued pay inflation for the junior lawyers will put renewed pressure on leading City firms to at least put in place inflation-linked rises to their assistant track.
In comparison, Freshfields and A&O currently pay NQs £65,000, with CC offering £63,500. Freshfields is expected to announce the results of its pay review within the next two weeks.
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