Law bucks trend as graduate salaries remain frozen
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Trainee solicitors have emerged as the top earners in the Association of Graduate Recruiters’ (AGR) summer survey, which found that salary levels for most university leavers have remained stagnant for two consecutive years.
According to the survey, which is published today (6 July), law firms will offer the highest median starting salary at £36,500, an increase from £35,000 reported in 2009. Investment banks and fund managers meanwhile have slipped to second place with a median salary of £35,000 compared to £38,250 last year. The median starting salary across all sectors has remained unchanged at the 2008 figure of £25,000.
Law firms are also expected to buck the trend by increasing their starting salaries by 4.3 per cent. In contrast investment banks and fund managers are predicting a drop in salaries by a whopping 8.5 per cent. Other sectors that are also planning to cut salaries include IT and telecoms and consultancy and business services.
The survey also claims that the number of graduate vacancies has dropped by 6.9 per cent. This follows a drop of 8.9 per cent in 2009.
The employers that responded to the AGR survey said that on average they received almost 70 applications per vacancy advertised in 2010 – the largest number in the history of the survey. This figure represents a jump of 20 applications per vacancy since 2009 and more than double the corresponding figure in 2008.
Readers' comments (10)
Anonymous | 6-Jul-2010 10:04 am
Didn't the Junior Division of the Law Society say something about this last year?
Everyone who has been through the process in recent years knows how tough it is to get a TC and the article doesn't address this properly.
If applications on all grad schemes get on average 70 applicants per place I would bet that for top law firms it is easily double that!
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Lucinda Dore JLD Executive Committee | 6-Jul-2010 10:31 am
This article does not reflect the difficulty that many students are having securing a training contract. It is concerning that those wanting to embark on a career in law are blinded by the prospect of a high starting salary when the reality is of course that only a small proportion of applicants will actually secure a training contract of this kind.
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IHateBPP | 6-Jul-2010 11:05 am
I'd like to know how they came to the average starting salary for trainees as it's substantially higher than what most trainees will be offered.
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IHateBPP | 6-Jul-2010 12:12 pm
Also, don't forget that law is one of the main sectors which has reduced the levels of recruitment when compared to other sectors that have increased recruitment.
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Anonymous | 6-Jul-2010 10:31 pm
Not all trainees earn £35K + (probably most don't), the Law Society sets min trainee salary rates and these are closer to £20k - and thats if you can get one in the first place!
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Anonymous | 7-Jul-2010 9:40 am
The AGR survey, not only is misleading to prospective law students, it also fails to mention that the salary earned on qualification is comparatively low compared to other professions such as banking, where bonuses often double an employee’s annual income.
I agree with Lucinda Dore’s observation that this article doesn’t reflect the difficulty that many law students experience in securing a training contract. The Law Society needs to do far more to address this issue. There are far too many outstanding paralegals out there that are taken advantage of by firms who see them a cheap labour source.
I for one worked for four years as a paralegal for a number of City firms, before finally securing a contract. It was a stressful and financially difficult experience (I am currently in £30k worth of debt as a result) and I would not wish anybody to go through the same experience as I have.
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doctorb | 7-Jul-2010 11:42 am
As usual with surveys, the devil is in the detail. It would be intersting to learn the mean starting salary being offered. Use of a median value could be viewed as being somewhat misleading
A median value does not give any consideration to the number of individuals offered each starting salary value. Only a very small number of candidates receive the median value or higher.
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Aled Evans | 7-Jul-2010 1:46 pm
Am I correct in thinking that this refers to the starting salary of a newly qualified solicitor rather than a first seat trainee? If so it's a very london-centric view of the legal market in the UK
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IHateBPP | 7-Jul-2010 4:28 pm
Even if this was just concerned with London, it's higher than many trainees will get.
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Beth | 9-Jul-2010 12:38 pm
AGR surveys always overstate graduate earnings because they only survey their membership, which is made up of big companies/big law firms etc. These firms/companies tend to pay more than non-AGR members, which distorts the figures greatly.
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