Trainees handed substantial rises of £7,500
Newly qualified (NQ) solicitor pay at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton has hit £140,000 as trainees are handed salary rises of as much as 15%.
Cleary confirmed NQ pay in the London office has risen 5% from £133,000 to £140,000. The last time NQ salaries were raised at the firm was in 2019, from £122k to £133k.
US law firms in London are luring junior lawyer talent away from the UK and magic circle law firms with bumper pay packets.
Legal Cheek’s Firms Most List 2022 shows Cleary’s NQs are among some of the most well paid in the City, making more than their peers at Ropes & Gray, White & Case and Willkie Farr, all of who pay associates £130,000 upon qualification.
Rookie pay is also up at the firm: first years are now on £57,500, up 15% from £50,000, while those in their second year, earn £62,500, up 14% from £55,000. The trainee pay rises match those implemented this month by Davis Polk & Wardwell, which Legal Cheek reported at the time were the highest of any firm in the City.
Cleary has also increased maintenance grants on the GDL and LPC in London to £12,000 (previously £8,000). The grants can vary from £1,000 to £12,850, according to our Firms Most List.
Elsewhere in the City and on matters of money, Morrison & Foerster has increased the salaries of its junior lawyers, with NQs now on $202,500 (£147,500).