Second boost this year
Slaughter and May has upped the salaries of its trainee solicitors following similar moves in recent weeks by Clifford Chance and Freshfields.
The magic circle outfit’s year one trainees will now earn a salary of £50,000, a rise of £3,000 from £47,000, while those in year two will receive £55,000, a boost of £2,500 from £52,500. This equates to uplifts of 6% and 5% respectively. The increases came into effect on 1 September.
This is the second time trainee pay has been boosted this year, with the firm announcing in February that salaries would move from £45,000 to £47,000 in year one, and £51,000 to £52,500 in year two.
Slaughters’ new and improved rookie rates match those announced earlier this month by Clifford Chance and Freshfields, as well those already in place at Linklaters. The final member of the elite fivesome, Allen & Overy, currently provides trainees rates of £47,500 and £53,000.
The Legal Cheek Firms Most List shows Slaughters offers around 80 training contracts each year, with rookies moving to a recently improved base rate of £100,000 upon qualification.