Allen & Overy is launching a radical shake-up of associate salaries as it announces a new pay scheme connected to the firm’s overall profitability.
The package will scrap the current London bonus system and will see a hike in pay of 15 per cent across the board for London associates and trainees starting at the beginning of next month.
Associate pay will now be linked to the value of a partner profit point, which last year was worth £24,008.
At the same time, Allen & Overy is dropping the one-firm approach to associate pay.
Allen & Overy managing partner David Morley said: “Each jurisdiction will determine their own approach to reward to reflect local market conditions. In London we have increased the salaries of all our people to ensure that we remain market competitive.”
Underpinning the initiative is a competency framework for associates whose structure mirrors that of partners. A&O will also continue to roll out its new career management programme. Earlier this year it held its inaugural senior associate conference in Brighton.
The move comes less than a year after Allen & Overy’s first overhaul of associate pay and career structure.
In October 2005, The Lawyer revealed that the magic circle firm was introducing pay hikes in response to an attrition rate that had hit 25 per cent. This was followed by the announcement of a new career ladder and revamp of training.
The career ladder proposals included the introduction of a new level of managing associate for the equivalent of 4, 5 and 6 years UK-qualified PQE, and the magic circle firm also introduced the title of counsel as alternative to partnership.
