Follows similar move by Clifford Chance
Allen & Overy has increased the salaries of its newly qualified (NQ) lawyers in London.
The firm’s new associates will now earn £100,000, plus a discretionary bonus, matching the same six-figure sum announced by Clifford Chance last week. A&O confirmed associates will receive £10,000 as a lump sum on signing with the firm.
Last summer the magic circle player cut pay from a minimum of £100,000, comprised of salary and sign-on bonus, to £90,000 in response to the coronavirus. Several months later it increased total compensation to £95,000 — £5,000 short of its pre-pandemic rate.
Other UK firms to increase pay in recent days include Ashurst, which upped NQ base rates to £90,000, a 5% increase from £85,500, and Clifford Chance, which boosted junior lawyer pay to £100,000, up from a previous base rate of roughly £93,000. Elsewhere, Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner increased NQ salaries from £80,000 to £88,000 — a rise of 10%. Expect other City firms to make rises of their own in the coming weeks.
