Potential earnings could exceed £100,000 with bonus
Baker McKenzie announced today a whopping 23% increase in its pay packet for newly qualified (NQ) solicitors to £95,000. The package includes a £90,000 base salary and a £5,000 signing-on bonus, a total uplift of almost a quarter from the previous level of £77,000.
There is also the potential to reap further rewards with a performance-related bonus that could, according to the firm: “[bring] their potential earnings to more than £100,000.” A spokesperson at the firm said:
“We are committed to remunerating our people fairly and competitively. Accordingly, we have raised our NQ package in line with the London market.”
The news brings Bakers’ NQ salaries roughly inline with magic circle firms. The total potential payout at Linklaters, for instance, is £100,000 (a combination of base salary and performance-related bonus). Ditto at Clifford Chance. Outside of the magic circle, Herbert Smith Freehills pays at a similar level (£105,000 if you include performance-related pay) to Bakers’ new heights.
This will be good news to many since, according to the most recent Legal Cheek Trainee and Junior Lawyer Survey, one of the main gripes at Bakers has been the NQ pay.