Uplifts for GDL and LPC maintenance grants, too
The London office of US outfit Davis Polk & Wardwell has upped its newly qualified (NQ) solicitor salary.
The pay bump sees Davis Polk’s junior lawyer cohort now start on £135,000, up from a previous rate of £120,000. This equates to a rise of £15,000 or 13%.
Legal Cheek‘s 2020 Firms Most List shows that the uplift put its London NQs ahead of their peers at Skadden (£133,000) and Milbank (£132,000), and just behind their opposite numbers at Sidley Austin (£135,500).
Meanwhile, Davis Polk has also upped the maintenance grants for both its Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL) and Legal Practice Course (LPC). Future trainees will now receive financial support to the tune of £10,000 during their time on each course — an uplift of £2,000 or 25%.
The firm, which takes on around four UK trainees annually, hit headlines last summer after it upped year two trainee pay to a market-topping £60,000 — a move later matched by fellow US giant Sullivan & Cromwell. Year one trainees at Davis Polk earn a salary of £55,000.