25% increase to £10k
Ashurst is the latest City firm to increase financial support for future trainees undertaking the Legal Practice Course (LPC).
Until recently the silver circle outfit provided £8,000 in maintenance to its future rookies during the LPC or LLM LPC, as well as a £2,000 interest-free loan. It has now increased this sum to £10,000, an uplift of 25%, and retained its interest-free loan offering.
Ashurst’s current trainees study the LPC at The University of Law, but those joining after September 2024 will be required to study Ashurst’s LLM LPC which prepares students to sit the Solicitors Qualifying Exam.
The uplift comes just days after Legal Cheek revealed magic circle duo Freshfields and Slaughter and May had raised their respective maintenance grants by a quarter to £12,500. Clifford Chance, meanwhile, dished out the same increase last month.
Earlier this year, Ashurst boosted its base salary for newly-qualified (NQ) lawyers from £90,000 to £105,000, a healthy rise of 17%.
The firm, which takes on around 40 trainees each year, scored an 85% spring trainee retention rate.