Links boosts associate pay but cuts salary bands

Is that table deceptive vis-a-vis individuals? If I were a 2 year at Freshfields until right now, my salary would still be £73k for FY2009. If I were a 2 year at Links, I'd get a salary increase to £85k. That's a big difference.

Em -30 Apr 2009 | 14:30

On that basis (and ignoring for a second the fiction that these levels aren't allowed to be about PQE because of age discrimination laws), a useful comparison would be to look at the salary for associates at all the magic circle firms who qualified at the same time (eg 2006).

Em -30 Apr 2009 | 14:33

Great quotation from HR. Rewarding the experience "amassed" by telling people they're getting a pay rise and then carrying out what amounts to a freeze anyway. Another coup for Linklaters' internal communication strategists.

Anonymous -30 Apr 2009 | 14:38

This is quite ridiculous. It is not a pay rise if the bands are being cut. The title of this article is completely misleading. There is little difference between what Linklaters is doing (slashing pay bands) and what the other MC firms have done so far (pay freeze); see the table comparison above. Linklaters have effectively culled its associate ranks AND slashed the salary bands for those remaining.

Kieran -30 Apr 2009 | 14:55

It's not deceptive, no. Freshfields lawyers were being paid more than Linklaters before, so the Linklaters "raise" merely brings them to parity.

Anonymous -30 Apr 2009 | 14:57

Em - how is that deceptive? A 2PQE (moving to 3PQE) at all of the other MC firms will also get a salary increase to £82k-£86k. The table already takes into account Linklaters' pay cut and the other MC firms' pay freeze.

Anonymous -30 Apr 2009 | 15:21

Suggest developing a longer-term view. The rewards in this game aren't at PQE2 level. You're in work and know next to jack. Be grateful.

playftseforme bosses it -30 Apr 2009 | 16:28

Kieran, in the real world getting more money one year as against the previous year is called a "pay rise". And that's what Linklaters are doing. In the other MC firms people are being paid the same from one year to the next. So in no MC firm is there a pay cut. In all firms bar Linklaters there is a freeze, in Linklaters there is a pay rise - it is just less of a rise than during boom times. Even a News of the Screws journo would have a problem describing any of the above as a "pay slash". Legal Week has simply reported the facts.

PlayTootsieForMe -30 Apr 2009 | 16:38

Agree with PlayTootsieForMe. Both legalweek and PlayTootsieForMe have laid out clear explanations.

Anon X -30 Apr 2009 | 19:09

No, most of you have missed the point (including Kieran). It's a pay rise. If I were 2 yrs PQE at Freshfields last year earning 73k, that's what I would still earn in FY2009. At Linklaters, at least they've moved me up a band, so now I'm on 85k. The other firms have frozen people at the level they were already at. They don't get the movement up. Links give the movement up, it's just up to an amount that is lower than that band was last year. Still more than staying in the same band though. What's not to understand? The others don't move up a band at the other MC firms.

Em -30 Apr 2009 | 19:47

Some of the posters here really don't seem to understand what's going on with salaries at all! It is very simple - if you work at Links, you will be on a higher salary tomorrow than you are today. This is not true for any other MC firm. End of. Oh, except you can also add the firmwide profit-related bonus (anyone else paying this?). Plus some decent performance bonuses for top individuals - any other firms paying 20%+ (in some cases close to 30%) to finance lawyers (and i'm not just talking about the restructuring guys) at the moment?

Anon, Linklaters -30 Apr 2009 | 20:46

Today's the day that Linklaters' redundancy programme comes to an end. What's the verdict?

Anonymous -30 Apr 2009 | 22:35

The £59k, £61k and £65k NQ salaries surprise me. I expected them to be higher. Medium-sized firms all pay around the same and the working hours are as I hear much more reasonable.

peter fish -01 May 2009 | 00:12

Anon-Links: quite right, but the increase, as a result of the pay band cuts and as the Legal Week chart shows, isn't much more than what the other MC firms are paying out to PQEs of the same level.As a poster above noted, the Links "increase" merely brings them back to parity.As for bonus - unclear what the other firms are paying out at the moment.

Anonymous -01 May 2009 | 15:30

Still an increase - Qualification (2008, 2009); NQ (£66,600, £61,500); 1PQE (£70,400, £68,000); 2PQE (£82,600, £73,000); 3PQE (£90,800, £85,000).

Anonymous -01 May 2009 | 16:29

Em, you've clearly missed the point. A 2 yr PQE at Freshfields earned £86,000 last year (compared with a 2PQE at Links, who earned £82,600). This year, the (now) 3PQE at Freshfields would still earn £86,000 as a result of the pay freeze, and the (now) 3PQE at Links would now earn £85,000. The bloke at Links would have gotten a pay rise (of £2,400), but at his band would still be earning less than the Freshfields fella. In any case, people should be glad they still have jobs.

Kieran -13 May 2009 | 00:19