Rises in regions too
Addleshaw Goddard and RPC have become the latest law firms to up the salaries of their newly qualified (NQ) lawyers in London and the regions.
AG confirmed base rates for NQs in London will move from £82,000 to £95,000, an uplift of 16%.
The Legal Cheek Firms Most List 2022 shows the pay boost — effective from September 2022 — will put the outfit’s City lot level with their opposite numbers at Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, CMS, DLA Piper, Norton Rose Fulbright and Squire Patton Boggs.
Those in AG’s Leeds and Manchester offices will see salaries swell by almost a quarter from £50,000 to £62,000, while their counterparts in Scotland will start life as a lawyer on £56,000 — an 18% rise from £47,500.
John Joyce, Addleshaw Goddard managing partner, said:
“To be a destination business for talented, ambitious people we need and want to remain really competitive on pay and will therefore increase salaries again this year across our business. But salary is only one important part of the equation when it comes to career choices. Supporting people to be the best they can be in a flexible, collaborative environment, with interesting work, whilst also seeing to it that salaries and bonus payments fairly recognise everyone’s efforts, are all, I believe real points of differentiation for us.”
RPC, meanwhile, confirmed NQ rates in London are also on the up; £70,000 to £85,000 for those in the firm’s commercial group, and £70,000 to £80,000 in the insurance division. These equate to increases of 21% and 14%, respectively.
Elsewhere, juniors in Bristol will enjoy a bump of 14%, from £49,000 to £56,000. The rises will take effect from 1 July.
“As a firm we remain committed to continue to support our people and clients achieve their ambitions,” RPC managing partner James Mille said. “Providing a competitive pay coupled with our people-centric culture which includes enhanced wellbeing and supporting career progression will enable us to retain and attract top talent to deliver against our ambitious growth plans.”
The move comes just days after Freshfields set down a new pay marker for its magic circle rivals, upping NQ base rates by a whopping 25% to £125,000.