Slaughter and May has increased its associate salaries across the board, by as much as 10%.

Trainees will make an extra grand a year, with salaries rising to £41,000 for first years and £46,000 for second years. NQs get a five grand rise to £70,000, and lawyers with 1PQE are now on £75,500 (previously £70,000), 2PQEs are on £87,000 (£79,000) and 3PQEs on £96,500 (£89,000). That's a 10% rise for 2PQE lawyers. And of course individual lawyers will also move up a tier with each year of qualification too.

    One Bunhill Row yesterday
 
The increase in salaries means that Slaughters now vies with Freshfields to be the highest paying firm in the Magic Circle. Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance and Linklaters are behind the game a little - but surely they will now follow suit.

 £k
NQ
1PQE
2PQE
3PQE
Total post qualified earnings over four years*
 
 A&O
 64.0
 69.5  78.5  89.0  301  
 Clifford Chance
 67.5  72.5  84.0  93.5  318  
 Freshfields  67.5  77.5  87.5  100.0  333  
 Linklaters  65.0  70.5  82.0  93.5  311  
 Slaughters  70.0  75.5  87.0  96.5  329  

Richard Clark, Slaughters' Executive Partner, said that the increases "reflect the fact that we recognise the importance of rewarding our lawyers for their hard work and commitment to the firm."

*OK, OK, it doesn't include bonuses or take account of salary variations within each band, but it does give an indication of what each firm is prepared to spend on its talent.
Tip Off ROF

Comments

Anonymous 08 May 15 10:11

Lawyers at the vast majority of firms must wonder what it is that these privately-educated Oxbridge cookie-cutter types do which makes them worth three or four times the salary of us mere mortals. Litigating against them is fun, however as you know they are bleeding their client dry, their client will never recover their costs and we have access to the same if not better litigation support by outsourcing at much lower cost.

Anonymous 08 May 15 23:02

£60-70k salaries in London do not stretch that far. Probably to a flat share in Clapham at most without parental support on top.

Anonymous 09 May 15 11:40

Wonder if A&O will play catch-up or set a new standard for the rest. When I left the firm about a year ago, the message was clear that the firm didn't think they were paying associates any less than the market. These numbers clearly show the gulf is widening.

Anonymous 11 May 15 11:03

"£60-70k salaries in London do not stretch that far. Probably to a flat share in Clapham at most without parental support on top."

What planet are you on?

Anonymous 11 May 15 13:28

A home of your own in London's zone 1 is a basic human right. It is cruel enough to force people to live on 70k - to make them live in zone 2 is barbaric.

Anonymous 11 May 15 15:09

Links massively boosted their salaries last week. I got a £20k pay rise at 2.5 PQE. Lets hope things keep moving in this direction and the rest of the market follows...

Anonymous 11 May 15 17:16

£65k, net of tax, NI & student loans comes in around £3,400 per month.

Remove travel of £150ish. This leaves £3,250 for rent and living expenses.

Clapham flat share is around £750-800 for 'city lawyer' standard. Call it £1k if you are picky.

Think that a Holborn studio or 1-bed is affordable for these NQ's in light of the above.

Anonymous 12 May 15 09:02

So sounds like LL is inching towards NY rates with £100+k for 2.5 PQE. I think that's about 10k less than the average paid by US firms in London at that level. Assuming other MCs follow, does this indicate the beginning of the decline of the big US firms in London (their general strategy of attracting talent from MCs etc with the lure of more cash will stop being a big factor I guess) or will they follow-up with a matching increase in what they offer employees in London?

Having made the move to a smaller firm for lifestyle considerations (no regrets yet!) it's still interesting to see how the law firm landscape continues to evolve in the city.

Anonymous 12 May 15 14:51

Haha, did an MC marketing person write the last comment (at 8.02 am)? As if a 20k difference isn't still a huge consideration by itself. Couple it with (i) equal (and in many cases worse) partnership prospects in the MC, and (ii) often being on the same deals against US firms (so that old chestnut about better work not holding as much weight), and you can't help but think that the rush to US firms will only continue.

And before anyone asks, I'm just a former MC lawyer with no particular agenda - I don't work in a US firm nor will I ever. The MC firms just seem so short sighted about all of this though and have to find a way to retain the talent. This generation isn't in it for a less than "maybe" chance of partnership after c10 years of ruining your life. Glad I'm out of it all to be honest.

Anonymous 12 May 15 23:30

To be fair, comes down to whether anonymous at 14.09 is correct in saying that Links massively boosted salaries at 2.5 PQE level by 20K. The chart above has 2 PQE salary at 82k, so a 20k boost would cross 100k.

Anonymous 13 May 15 12:00

@13:51- the partnership prospects might not be great for promotion within your MC firm itself, but you've got a very good chance of being parachuted in at a top 30 over the heads of the incumbent senior associates(and a steadily increasing one , as private practice gets more used to laterals).

Anonymous 13 May 15 21:54

@ 12/5 22:30 - unless they have a time machine that they've chosen to use to stay at the same PQE, commenter hasn't said that 2.5 PQE has jumped by 20K. Links definitely doesn't pay £100K for that PQE.

Anonymous 13 May 15 22:04

Good luck to them, my advice to them would be not to squander the opportunity and put a bit aside for a rainy day.

Anonymous 14 May 15 08:42

At anonymous 11.00,

I assume someone at a US firm will also have equal chances to move laterally to a top 30 as partner, so their point stands?

Anonymous 14 May 15 11:06

On Links, presumably the point is that (effectively) the 2 year rate has jumped to 90k (i.e. our commentating friend has gone from 70.5 to 90

Roll On Friday 14 May 15 12:56

MC associates (and partners) don't generally work the hours of their counterparts in US firms. If you have the ability and willing to make partner in a top firm then the difference in MC and US associate salaries pales in the long run. Once you're in the equity, you don't give a toss whether you earned 600k or 900k over your entire associate career. Add to that the prospect of having decisions made about your future in the US and worse/smaller/fewer specialist departments and support functions and a more limited reputation in the UK market and the MC route still looks preferable (for those who can and want to hack it).

Anonymous 14 May 15 13:20

Not sure about that analysis, Charlie H.

Having made the jump from MC to US last year, my hours are not significantly different and so far I have worked opposite MC firms on majority of my deals. Fewer paid holidays, true, but that comes together with a much more flexible work environment. MC firms do have their appeal - secondment opportunities with clients, other offices and potentially across departments, an easy route to in-house jobs etc but not sure hours, quality of work, quality of team, reputation of firm are among those.

Anonymous 14 May 15 13:57

agree with anonymous @12.20 today. The hours etc are not significantly worse at US firms and many many times US firms counterparts are the MC so Charlie H's comments don't seem to stand.

Also anonymous at @20.54 and @10.06 are correct - Links 2.5 pqe has not jumped to 100k, but the jump from 1.5 pqe to 2.5 pqe is now a 20k increase.

Roll On Friday 14 May 15 14:47

I didn't say anything about the quality of the work and being on some of the same deals doesn't equate to working the same hours.

Anonymous 14 May 15 15:59

Its me the 2.5PQE from Links again to clarify: As a 1.5PQE I was on 72.5k and now I am on 92.5k. When you include bonus then this is above 100k total (assuming you hit 1700 hours, which I did). The above table is only at March intake, but I was a regular September intake, hence I am 2.5PQE.

Anonymous 15 May 15 00:23

Even on last years band Freshfields are quite a bit ahead. And Freshies bonuses from what I've heard from friends are pretty generous compared to ours. Although their team is quite lean compared to ours, so swings & roundabouts.

Anonymous 15 May 15 00:28

That's still impressive. Good to know some MCs are looking to actively challenge the US firms. Moved a while back but would have thought twice with this salary difference (still would mice in hindsight but thought twice at least).

Anonymous 15 May 15 10:48

The US firms will similarly increase their salaries accordingly - the gap won't be closing anytime soon.

Anonymous 15 May 15 11:51

Here's hoping the US firms go up to keep the pay gap. I'm tiring of slogging 2000 billables on £110+ base.

Anonymous 16 May 15 12:05

Not sure US firms in London will be influenced greatly by a few UK firms increasing salaries. It will make a difference but will ultimately depend on whether salaries need to be increased in NY as well.

Anonymous 19 May 15 19:05

You probably should have trained at a better firm, and stepped out of mere mortality. And bitterness.

Anonymous 21 May 15 21:15

And so it begins... White & Case propose at least a 20% pay increase for juniors http://www.legalweek.com/legal-week/news/2404733/white-case-ponders-hiking-newly-qualified-pay-to-gbp90k