The legal landscape is seeing significant pay rises among some big law firms in the UK. Scott Gibson, director of London-based legal consultancy Edwards Gibson, suggests in his comments to Bloomberg Law that these firms are choosing to pay more to their newly qualified layers, despite already facing a challenging market.
“For a UK law firm to do this in a market, where it’s just harder to make money, that’s a hell of a statement. It’s going to cost them. They don’t really need to do this. It can only really be for prestige.”
This recent trend was initiated by Linklaters’ decision to increase newly qualified lawyers’ salaries by 20%, which translates to a £150,000 ($188,000) pay, up from £125,000 ($157,000). Similarly, Freshfields made a comparable salary move for NQ lawyers earlier this month.
According to Ria Karnik, a London-based legal recruiter for Major, Lindsey & Africa, these substantial salary increases can be best described as a “bold move”. She also suggests it’s predictable for the other Magic Circle firms to react and adjust their pay structure accordingly.
“Linklaters and Freshfields are making “bold move[s],” and that it’s “reasonable to expect the other Magic Circle firms to follow suit.”
The questions that arise are whether these substantial salary increases are solely for prestige, or can they be understood as an attempt of these firms to present themselves as financial leaders in the legal field? According to a recent report, it could possibly be both.