Pay trimmed by £5k last summer
Macfarlanes has become the latest City player to reinstate the salaries of its newly qualified (NQ) lawyers, after opting to cut pay in response the coronavirus pandemic.
The silver circle player confirmed junior lawyer base rates have retuned to £85,000. In August, Legal Cheek reported that salaries had been trimmed by £5,000 (6%) pending a review in the autumn.
A firm spokesperson revealed salaries were upped from £80,000 to £82,500 in November, with the boost backdated to September. It then upped them again last month, with salaries returning to a pre-pandemic £85,000. This second uplift was backdated to October.
The news comes less than a week after fellow City player Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner restored NQ pay packets to £80,000 following a summer cut of 2.5%. Other firms to take similar steps include Hogan Lovells and magic circle firm Clifford Chance.