All three firms now in £70k-£80k range
A trio of international law firms have increased the salaries of their trainee and newly-qualified (NQ) lawyers.
Hogan Lovells has bumped its London-based NQ salaries to £78,000, up 4% from £75,000. The firm — which offers up to 60 training contracts each year — has also thrown extra cash at its trainees. Year one rookie pay is up 2% to £45,000, while those a year ahead now earn £50,000, a rise of £1,000 or 2%.
Legal Cheek’s Most List shows that Hogan Lovells’ NQs are now £3,000 better off than their peers at firms including Baker McKenzie, DLA Piper and Norton Rose Fulbright, and just £500 behind their opposite numbers at magic circle outfit Linklaters (£78,500).
Meanwhile, Stephenson Harwood NQ salaries now sit at £73,000, a rise of 11% from £66,000. This uplift puts the firm’s junior lawyers £2,000 ahead of their counterparts at K&L Gates, Simmons & Simmons and Taylor Wessing (£71,000).
Stephenson Harwood has also upped trainee pay, albeit slightly more modestly. Those in year one of their training contracts now receive a salary of £41,000, up from £40,000 (a rise of 3%), while those a year head now earn £45,000, an extra £1,000 or 2%. The outfit confirmed NQ rises were effective from July, while trainee increases kick in next month.
Finally, Pinsent Masons. The firm has confirmed to Legal Cheek that London NQ pay now sits at £70,000, a rise of £2,000 or 3%. Salaries for its junior lawyers in the regions and Scotland are also up 3% to £43,000 and £40,000 respectively. Today’s money move puts Pinsents’ London lot on a pay par with their equivalents at Dentons, Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner and Watson Farley & Williams.
There are also new salary bands for the Pinsents’ rookies. London-based trainees now earn £41,000 in year one and £44,000 in year two, uplifts of 2% across the board, while trainees in the regions now earn £27,000, rising to £30,000 in their second year. Their colleagues in Scotland start on £23,000, rising to £26,000 as they move into year two of their TCs.
