Payday: City law firm hikes starting salary for junior lawyers to £120k
Square Mile law firm Herbert Smith Freehills has boosted its starting salary for junior lawyers to £120,000, as the City pay battle wages on.
The firm has hiked pay for junior lawyers by 24 per cent, in a bid to compete with other law firms also increasing staff pay.
The increase comes as Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey said there was a “societal question” over whether workers should be asking for pay rises.
He has warned pay increases could push inflation levels to further heights.
Herbert Smith Freehills stated it had boosted newly qualified solicitors’ wages by another 14 per cent, as reported by The Times newspaper.
Junior lawyers already saw their pay packets boosted by 10 per cent at the end of last year.
However, the firm’s executive partner, Alison Brown, said it was key that it continued to attract “the very best talent” and said the firm wanted “to recognise high-performing lawyers at all levels”.
Elsewhere in the City, Magic Circle law firm Allen & Overy has gone against the grain by declaring a pay freeze for its junior lawyers.
The firm had boosted pay for newly qualified solicitors to £107,500 in November last year.
The pay freeze was “a prudent decision based on a number of factors, including the more challenging business environment,” according to an Allen & Overy spokesperson.