The move lifts NQ pay by £1,500 from the mark of £64,000 set last year, with other bands for assistants also seeing increases around the 3% level.
Lawyers with one year post-qualification experience (PQE) will now pocket £68,000, up from last year’s rate of £66,000. That rises to £80,000 for those with two years’ PQE, up from the previous mark of £76,000, while those with three years’ PQE will take home £88,000 – up from £85,000.
Trainees at the top 10
The news comes after Lovells last week (15 May) announced double-digit growth in both turnover and partner profits, with fee income up 13% to £479m and average profits per partner climbing by around 12% to £662,000.
The increases mean Lovells’ NQs now earn slightly more than their equivalents at City rival Herbert Smith, which last month opted to freeze NQ pay at £64,000.
Lovells now pays its NQs the same as magic circle firm Allen & Overy, which also froze its associate salaries, but continues to lag Linklaters and Clifford Chance, which both lifted by pay by around 4% to £66,600, and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, which now offers NQs £66,000.
Stay up to speed with all the latest salary changes with the Legal Week Wiki pay league.
