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As the City pay war continues, Norton Rose Fulbright is the latest firm to lob a cash grenade at NQs by raising pay to £95,000.

The City firm is upping the base salary for its NQs from £85k to £95k, a rise of 12% (not including a bonus). NQs that hit 1800 hours a year will receive a total cash sum of £107,500. The firm will dish out a maximum compensation package of £133,000, although any NQ aiming for that should expect to receive some magnificent beastings in return. The salary rise will be effective from 1 January 2022. 

Stephenson Harwood will also be hiking its NQ pay by 20% from £75k to £90k, as well as upping associate salary within a range of 8-17%.

The NQ base salary rises at NRF and Stephenson Harwood, put them just beneath the Magic Circle. Last month, Allen & Overy matched Linklaters' NQ base salary of £107,500, representing the second time this year the two firms have dished out raises to NQs. So far, Slaughter and May, Clifford Chance and Freshfields are all paying NQs a base salary of £100k.

Firing cannons of cash on a higher plain nearby, White & Case is raising NQ base salary from £130,000 to £140,000. 

The New York headquartered firm is also making the following salary increases in London: 

White Case

The firm said rises from 3PQE upwards would be discretionary, but were expected to be "as competitive as those detailed in the table".

White & Case's NQs will join the same £140k+ bracket as peers at US firms including MoFo (approximately £147,000), Cleary (£140,000), Shearman & Sterling, Debevoise & Plimpton, Latham & Watkins, Milbank, Akin Gump, Simpson Thacher, and Kirkland & Ellis. But they're all paupers compared to NQs at Vinson & Elkins, whose salaries were boosted in June from £147,500 to a remarkable £153,000. 

Having recently upped NQ pay, Morrison Foerster is now spraying its other juniors with cash, by bringing the salary scale of its London associates in line with the US, resulting in a pay increase of over 25% on average. 

"Our associates have played a key role in delivering for our clients and in the office’s sustained growth over the past several years," a MoFo spokeswoman told RollOnFriday. "To continue on our trajectory, we are keen to ensure that our associates are compensated in line with our top competitors and committed to continuing to attract and retain the best and most diverse talent.”

MoFo's table of compensation is as follows: 

MoFo

Akin Gump is another US firm to introduce pay rises, as it matches Davis Polk, Cleary, Ropes & Gray to make their trainees the joint-highest paid in the City.  All four firms now pay their first year trainees in London £57,500 and their second years £62,500.

“Our trainees are an important talent source who quickly become immersed within each team and are given early responsibility to manage independent work streams,"  said London training principal Vance Chapman. "Akin Gump is proud to recognise and reward their legal talent at the very top end of London salary scales.”


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Comments

Anonymous 12 November 21 09:20

I work at a US firm.

The amount of money that I have is enormous, a burden in some ways.

I walk around with vast wads of cash stuffed into one of my trouser pockets and my colossal todger - which I have - tucked into the other.

"You there" I say to passers-by "which of these protuberances do you suppose is my wallet and which is my schlong?"

"It is immaterial!" they reply "our esteem for you would be immense irrespective of what you had jammed into your pockets".

Not like you. Your pockets are empty. You envy what I have achieved.

In the summer I cannot wear shorts.

anonymous 14 November 21 09:21

HMRC must love reading these articles...so much tax revenue coming from high faluting NQ's.

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