Freshfields and Slaughters follow Clifford Chance in upping LPC maintenance grants by a quarter
Future trainees to receive £12,500 in financial support
Freshfields and Slaughter and May have followed Clifford Chance in increasing financial support for future trainees undertaking the Legal Practice Course (LPC) by a quarter.
The magic circle duo provided £10,000 in maintenance to LPC students and have now increased this sum by 25% to £12,500.
The uplift will apply to the firms’ current LPC cohorts, who will receive the additional £2,500 by way of a top-up payment in the coming weeks.
Slaughters informed students of the increase last week, whilst Freshies did so this week, according to an email we’ve seen.
The firms, which are part of the City Consortium, send their future trainees to study the seven-month course at BPP Law School. Between them they take on about 165 trainees each year.
In March Legal Cheek reported that Clifford Chance had increased LPC maintenance grants to £12,500, matching that already on offer at Linklaters.
Legal Cheek understands moves were made after future trainees lobbied their firms to increase the amount they provide in maintenance amid rising living costs.
Allen & Overy continues to pay LPC students £10,000 in maintenance, its graduate recruitment website shows.
Last week Freshfields increased newly qualified (NQ) solicitor pay by a quarter to £125,000, setting down the marker for its magic circle rivals to follow suit.
The LPC is being phased out by the new Solicitors Qualifying Exam (SQE) regime. Already a number of firms have begun to disclose what they will provide in maintenance to SQE trainees, with sums ranging from £12,500 to £17,000.
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30 Comments
Future Trainee Solicitor
Glad to see this as it will place pressure on other firms.
What is remarkable is other leading firms, many of whom are larger than FBD & S&M, in size and probability, thinking that they can get away with offering a maintenance grant of £7.5K or thereabouts.
Utterly ridiculous, when one has to live in, arguably, the most expensive city in the world, during a devastating cost of living crisis.
Some firms need to get a grip and offer something that is even vaguely competitive.
whosa
name some firms larger than fbd and offering lower maintenance please
p
white & case
Future Trainee Solicitor
Firms larger, in terms of revenue, than FBD and offering a LPC grant lower than £12,500?
Try Latham, W&C, Skadden, Morgan Lewis, A&O – I could go on. Admittedly, many of these firms are at the £10K point for the LPC, but W&C stands out as it offers a pitiful £7.5K for GDL students, like myself.
Not going to be training with them, but simply not good enough for such a large, successful firm.
Jax
Still not enough, to the days when it was 9k.
Inflation is biting, or some will just be travelling first class cause mommy and daddy money has them spoilt already
Anon
The problem is everyone is given the same money without any means testing. I remember on my LPC you had people blowing the whole lot at Louis Vuitton who had mummy and daddy paying for everything while others were working part time jobs to support themselves.
Big boy
Finally, hope articles like these put some pressure on the firms offering a measly 7.5k.
Disgruntled and grumpy future trainee
It’s ridiculous how the entire cohort has had to beg firms for an increase. Hopefully the other consortium firms follow suit. 12.5k is still f*** all to live on.
Oh please
12.5k for 6 to 7 months is plenty to live on. Let’s not exaggerate. The firm is helping us to get through the lpc period with a decent standard of living.
Without us as of yet having done any work with the firm.
They’re not supposed to be financing 6 pound iced lattes 4 times a day and a ski holiday in december.
Big boy
Not everyone is given 12.5k.
Learn to read
The comment clearly states “12.5k is still f*** all to live on” and the response was directly replying to that
Ginny
Still no where enough to live in london for 7-12 months on the LPC. Average rents for a flat share are going up and are flattening around £900-1000pcm and this doesn’t always include bills.
Then try enjoy having to pay for the ever increasing tube, london lifestyle, gym, food etc – it’s impossible unless you have bank of mum and dad, trust fund or work on the side
Hmm?
Heaven forbid you have to have a part-time job to earn a bit of pocket money to support your “London lifestyle”.
Of course, the LPC (in particular the condensed, shorter course the City firms tend to opt for) is a lot of hard work in a short space of time but it really isn’t the end of the world if you have to work P/T a few hours a week – unpopular as this opinion may be, you aren’t entitled to anything.
🚨 Daily Fail reader detected 🚨
Many BigLaw firms don’t allow part-time work during the LPC. Maybe you would have known if you have worked a day in a law firm, instead of reading articles on the Daily Fail all day about latte-drinking youths.
Out of touch
The competition to rent nice/livable flats in that price range is also something unrecognised by these firms. Most London LPC cohorts are mainly rich internationals, stay at home Londoners and commuters. But the grant is the same for all…
boo to inflation
Hopefully A&O will follow suit. Their current future trainee cohort submitted a proposal a month or so ago after taking some inspiration from their CC counterparts but I don’t think A&O have yet responded. Will be interesting to see what they do now.
Cheeky Lawyer
Is it true that Freshfields increased bonuses?
Future trainee
Ashurst just raised its grant to 10k plus a 2k instant loan (interest free). Could be better, could be worse but ultimately nice to see they’re looking out for us. Some firms paying under 10k need to re-evaluate rapidly.
Rajajox
can people verify this? there is no news article on this as such and Ashurst is my dream firm.
Anon
The 2k interest free loan was always there but yes they’ve just upped the grant from 8k to 10k.
MC 1PQE
12.5k net for 6/7 months is a similar standard of living to the avg Londoner, most of whom have more significant demands on their money.
I did the LPC on the 10k grant, and tutored for a few hours each week and lived very comfortably. If you’re unable to make 12.5k last for 6 months, it’s an indictment of your ability to budget, rather than the firm’s stinginess.
Oh Dear
Completely agree
Hmm
£10,000 for 6.5 months is less than London living wage over the same period of time…
If you were comfortable, why would you be tutoring?
hidden costs
have you forgotten that the first pay cheque as a trainee is usually towards the end of september with an august start? so actually this will be 10k for 9 months which may only just cover one’s rent.
fat cat student
us firms paying 10k for 12 months hurry up and raise pls
Bonus Paterfamilias
Law firms should pay more in the LPC grant. It’s more tax-efficient than raising the trainee salary.
Tax the rich x
If firms are serious about social mobility they need to means test their LPC/GDL grants pronto. How is this not taken into consideration by the social mobility index?
Law firms make the assumption that you are supported financially when dishing out grants.
Grants of 7k in London/5k in the regions by firms with sizeable PEP levels is embarrassing.
Anon - Trainee
10k is impossible to live off if you’re working full time on the LPC and privately renting In London. Raising the grant actually means trainees from disadvantaged backgrounds have a chance to focus on studying without ending up in more debt. The firms can afford it, time they cough up instead of bleeding 20-something year olds dry.
lol
Does anyone think the whole TC game is getting a bit obsolete? It doesn’t have the privileged appeal it once had IMO.
John Smith
However FBD’s definitely not upping paralegals’ salaries. Plus 3% the last three years. Don’t take a job as a paralegal there.
Comments are closed.