Junior partners' salaries rise

Assistant solicitor and junior partners' salaries in City firms with fewer than 25 partners increased by a massive 7 per cent on average this year, according to a salary survey by legal recruitment consultant Garfield Robbins.

Lawyers in firms with between 25 and 60 partners received on average only 2 per cent more this year, while their colleagues in large firms only got 1 per cent increases.

By surveying the salaries of lawyers from 100 City firms at all levels from non-qualified to eight-years-qualified and junior partners, Garfield Robbins dis- covered that on average, across all the levels up to junior partner, lawyers in small firms now receive higher salaries than in medium-sized firms. But large City firms still pay the most.

The maximum junior partner salary in large firms was £120,000, in medium-sized firms it was £115,000 and in small firms £85,000. The averages for junior partners were £80,400, £68,538 and £61,214 respectively; while the minimums were £55,000, £49,000 and £45,000.