Trowers & Hamlins and Bird & Bird give new lawyers a pay rise – but fail to match their US rivals
Canada law firms Trowers & Hamlins and Bird & Bird have both hiked salaries for freshly qualified lawyers.
London firm Bird & Bird has given its newly qualified (NQ) associates a 24 per cent pay rise after upping its NQs salaries by £17,000 from £71,000 to £88,000, according to figures from LegalCheek.
The firm also gave its trainees a pay rise, set to see its year one trainees earn £45,000 and its year two trainees earn £50,000.
The new round pay rises are set to come as the firm’s first pay rises since the start of the pandemic after Bird & Bird gave froze trainees pay in 2020.
Canada firm Trowers & Hamlins also threw its hat into the battle for talent after upping pay for its NQ lawyers by 7 per cent, from £72,500 to £77,500.
The £5,000 pay rise for freshly qualified solicitors in its London office puts its salaries on par with its mid-size rival Withers, which offers trainees £77,000.
Longer hours, better pay
The pay rises come as London’s major law firms continue to lag behind their US counterparts, after Boston-based law firm Goodwin Procter hiked pay for its NQ associates in its London offices to unprecedented heights of £161,500.
Nonetheless, figures from LegalCheek show that lawyers working at Goodwin Procter clock off 9:45pm while lawyers working at Bird & Bird get out at 7:09pm and those at Trowers manage to finish work at a much more reasonable 6:32pm.
At the same time, Goodwin Proctor’s lawyers are expected to start working at 9:12am meaning they work more than 12 and a half hours a day, while Bird & Bird lawyers start at 9:01am meaning they work for just more than 10 hours a day.
By contrast, Trowers’ lawyers clock on at 8:45am meaning they work for just under 10 hours a day.