Six-figure sum includes sign-on bonus
Allen & Overy (A&O) has followed fellow magic circle outfits Slaughter and May, Clifford Chance and Freshfields in upping its total newly qualified (NQ) solicitor pay package to £100,000.
Newbie associates at A&O’s One Bishops Square base will start lawyer life on a “minimum total cash” of £100,000, comprised of salary and a “sign-on bonus”. Like with CC and Slaughters, A&O’s headline NQ pay figure is a combination of basic salary and bonus. Freshies’ lot, however, out-earn their magic circle counterparts with discretionary bonuses on top of their staggering six-figure salaries.
A first-year A&O trainee earns £45,000, rising to £50,000 in their second year. Today’s money move means juniors will be pulling in almost double their salaries straight out of their training contracts. The firm’s previous NQ salary was £83,000.
The pay rise comes amid speculation of a transatlantic tie-up between A&O and US firm O’Melveny & Myers to create one of the world’s largest law firms with combined revenues totalling £2 billion ($2.8 billion).
It remains to be seen whether the final firm of the elite fivesome plans to follow suit. Linklaters has not yet upped NQ remuneration in 2019 which currently stands at £83,000.
Check out the Legal Cheek Firms Most List for full benchmarking of law firm pay.
