Jones Day has become the latest firm to raise its salaries for newly-qualified (NQ) solicitors to £100,000 in London.
The firm has hiked NQ pay by 18 per cent, from £85,000.
The firm’s trainees will also see their salaries increase. First years will now start on £47,000, up 4 per cent from £45,000, while second years will take home £54,000, up 8 per cnet from £50,000.
Massive salary rises at US firms in London were sparked last year by Cravath Swaine & Moore’s first pay rise for New York associates in years. Other firms scrambled to follow suit, sparking a chain reaction that made its way across the Atlantic to London. Firms including Kirkland & Ellis, Vinson & Elkins, Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft and Latham & Watkins now pay their London NQs in excess of £100,000.
Meanwhile, Macfarlanes has also raised its NQ pay significantly. Newly qualified lawyers at the firm will now be paid a minimum of £81,300, up 15 per cent from £71,000. High performing NQs could earn up to £90,000 under the firm’s bonus system.
Unrealistic and unreal! What planet are these firms living on. No wonder you are reporting a shortage of trainee places. No wonder the profession demands blood and a pound of flesh from its juniors. No wonder that seeing a solicitor has become an over priced luxury accessible only to the rich. No wonder there is a massive unmet need for legal advice. These firms have forgotten why we learn law; to obtain justice for those who have been refused it, and to earn a decent living so that we can raise our kids to be good citizens in a just society.
As a law professor of over 25 years standing, with 2 degrees and 2 postgraduate qualifications including a PhD, I am earning just 2/3 of the proposed starting salaries. I am also increasingly volunteering my time and expertise for free to help meet the legal needs of not just the poor, but also the just about managing. What my students want from their firm is a reasonable starting salary, alongside reasonable working hours. On qualification they would like reasonable fee targets so that they can work reasonable hours, and offer clients reasonable prices. Being reasonable would enable all of those newly qualified, very clever, bright , articulate, hard working students who are working in sales, in call centres, managing restaurants, or if lucky earning £17k as a para-legal, to have training places, and be helping meet that unmet need for justice.