More summer rises
Baker McKenzie has become the latest City law firm to match Magic Circle pay levels, increasing newly qualified (NQ) solicitor salaries in London from £145,000 to £150,000.
The 3.4% uplift took effect from the beginning of July and puts the global firm on par with A&O Shearman, Clifford Chance, Freshfields, Linklaters, and Slaughter and May, all of which currently pay their London NQs a base salary of £150,000.
The move comes just weeks after Silver Circle firm Macfarlanes also raised its NQ salary to £150,000, matching the Magic Circle and continuing the steady upward trend in pay among the UK’s elite firms.
Baker’s increase also nudges it ahead of firms including Ashurst Perkins Coie and Norton Rose Fulbright, which continue to pay £140,000 to newly qualified lawyers, while narrowing — albeit only slightly — the gap to the highest-paying US firms in London. Litigation specialist Quinn Emanuel still tops the market with an eye-watering £189,000 NQ salary, but does not have a a UK training contract programme.