Trainees at the US-headquartered outfit also handed fresh pay rises
International law firm K&L Gates has upped the pay packets of its junior lawyers to £71,000, Legal Cheek can reveal.
The firm — which offers around 10 London-based training contracts annually — has chucked an extra £3,000 at its newly qualified (NQ) cohort, equating to a boost of just over 4%.
According to Legal Cheek’s 2016/17 Most List, K&L Gates’ rookies are now earning the same as their counterparts at single-office City outfit Macfarlanes, and whole £1,000 more than those at Ashurst, DLA Piper and King & Wood Mallesons.
Further down the pecking order, trainees at the US-headquartered firm have also been awarded pay increases. Those in year one of their training contracts will now pocket £41,000, up from £37,500 — an increase of 9%. While those a year ahead have been handed a £2,000 (5%) increase, taking salaries up from £44,000 to £46,000.
Across the pond, K&L Gates has been a little more flash with its cash. Back in June — responding to pay increases adopted by New York titan Cravath, Swaine & Moore — the firm hiked new starter pay (look away now London associates) from an already impressive $160,000 (£130,000) to an eye watering $180,000 (£145,000) across a number of its US offices.
Away from the exciting world of lawyer pay, Legal Cheek’s latest law firm survey revealed a few interesting tit-bits about K&L Gates London office.
According to our research, lawyers at the firm often work long days, arriving at the office (on average) at 9:07am and not leaving till after 7:00pm. The firm — which, the survey shows, appears to offer little international travel — did score highly across a number of key areas, including quality of training, social life and peer support.