£70k and £66k
Corporate duo Mishcon de Reya and Fieldfisher have bumped the pay packets of their newly qualified (NQ) lawyers by £3,000.
Up first, Mishcon. Junior lawyer pay at the two-office outfit (London and New York) now stands at £70,000 — a rise of £3,000 or 4%. This puts Mishcon NQs on a pay par with a plethora of City players, including Addleshaw Goddard, CMS, Osborne Clarke, Pinsent Masons and Watson Farley Williams.
Mishcon has also splashed the case on its trainees. First years at the firm, which has around 14 training contract places up for grabs each year, receive £42,000 — a rise of £2,000 or 5%. Those a year ahead earn £45,000, an extra £3,000 or 7%.
Today’s pay uplifts follow news that Mishcon’s turnover had shot up 8% to £161.3 million from the previous 12 months (£149 million).
Next up, Fieldfisher. The global giant has confirmed its NQs are also £3,000 better off on a salary of £66,000, a rise of 5%. This means Fieldfisher’s London lot are on the same cash levels as their peers over at Gowling WLG, HFW and Trowers & Hamlins.
There were rises for the firm’s trainees too. First years at the outfit, which offers around 18 training contract positions annually, will start lawyer life on £38,500, while trainees in their second year earn £41,500. This represents rises of £1,500 or 4%.
The 22-office outfit performed solidly in this year’s Legal Cheek Trainee and Junior Lawyer Survey. It secured A grades for, among other things, training, quality of work, peer support and office, as well as an A* for its work/life balance.
