Trainee solicitor pay reaches £62.5k in the City

Davis Polk tops rookie remuneration table

Trainee solicitor salaries have surpassed the £60,000 mark for the first time ever, Legal Cheek can reveal, thanks to fresh rises in the London office of US outfit Davis Polk & Wardwell.

The New York player now sits at the very top of the Legal Cheek Firms Most List for rookie remuneration after upping year two rates from £60,000 to £62,500.

The uplift puts Davis Polk’s trainees just ahead of their counterparts at Kirkland & Ellis and Sullivan & Cromwell (both £60,000), and within touching distance of some City firms’ newly qualified (NQ) associates.

The firm has also chucked extra cash at its year one trainees, moving rates from £55,000 to £57,500. Salaries for newly qualified associates currently sit at £147,500.

But you’ll face stiff competition if you’re looking to secure a training contract in the firm’s London office. Our Firms Most List shows Davis Polk provides just four each year.