Allen & Overy NQ pay hits £81,000 as trainees handed £2,000 increases

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By Thomas Connelly on

Exclusive: Yet more magic circle salary boosts

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Allen & Overy has become the latest magic circle player to up the salaries of its trainee and junior lawyers.

The firm, which dishes out around 90 training contracts each year, has confirmed that newly qualified (NQ) pay packets have been upped from £78,500 to £81,000, equating to a rise of 3%. Allen Overy has confirmed to Legal Cheek that this is a “base-rate” salary.

Today’s pay uplift means Allen & Overy’s NQs are now £2,500 better off than their counterparts at Linklaters (£78,500), and £3,000 above their peers at Slaughter and May (£78,000). Clifford Chancewhich confirmed salary increases of its own last week — pays its newbie associates £87,300, while Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer‘s fresh faced talent earn £85,000 a year.

However, training contract hunters beware. With the recent influx in City firms combining salaries and bonuses, these hefty sums of money are likely to fluctuate depending on individual performance.

Meanwhile, Allen & Overy’s trainees are also cashing in on the rise. First years will now earn £44,000 (up 5%), while salaries for those a year ahead now stand at £49,000 (up 4%).

The extra dough puts year one trainees £1,000 ahead of their opposite numbers at Freshfields (£43,000), Linklaters (£43,000) and Slaughter and May (£43,000). Clifford Chance’s first year cohort remain rooted to the top of the magic circle pay table with earnings, before tax, of £44,800.

Allen & Overy’s second year trainees are also sitting pretty. They are now on a pay par with those completing their training contacts at Linklaters (£49,000) and a full £1,000 better off than their equals at Freshfields (£48,000) and Slaughter and May (£48,000). Again, thanks to last week’s pay increases, Clifford Chance’s second years top the magic circle pay table with a salary of £50,500.

The news comes just over two years after Allen & Overy last published pay increases. Legal Cheek reported at the time that NQ wedge had risen by a whopping 18% to £78,500.

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