DLA Piper bumps newly qualified pay by 8% to £70,000

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By Thomas Connelly on

Global giant has also chucked extra cash at its regional and Scottish talent

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DLA Piper has bumped the pay packets of its London-based newly qualified (NQ) lawyers to £70,000.

Up from an already respectable £65,000, the pay boost equates to an increase of 8%. The global giant — which offers up to 75 training contracts each year — has also thrown extra cash at its trainee cohort.

Those in year one of a DLA training contract — based in London — will now pocket £42,000, up from £40,000, a rise of 5%. Meanwhile those a year ahead will now walk away with £47,000, up from £44,000, equating to an increase of 7%.

These increases put the firm’s London NQs on a par with Ashurst, Baker & McKenzie and King & Wood Mallesons.

Away from the City, DLA’s regional and Scottish lawyers have also had extra cash chucked their way.

Lawyers qualifying outside of London at one of DLA’s regional offices will now trouser £41,000, up from £40,000. And north of the border their Scottish counterparts — sharing in the good times — have been chucked a 6% pay boost, and will now take home £38,000.

Earlier this week the firm revealed changes to its “red card” system. According to a report, DLA will now punish “delinquent” partners who fail to clock up at least seven-and-a-half hours of work each day. Senior lawyers at the firm can have profit drawings suspended or even reduced if they fail to pull their weight.