More rises
DLA Piper is the latest law firm to announce an increased pay packet for its newly qualified (NQ) solicitors.
The firm has raised its newly qualified (NQ) salary from £130,000 to £140,000 — an increase of £10,000, or around 8%.
It also confirmed a rise in regional NQ salaries, from £82,000 to £84,000, across its offices in Birmingham, Edinburgh, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester and Sheffield.
A spokesperson for the firm told Legal Cheek: “The regional increases ensure our offering remains market leading and underscores our continued commitment to attracting and retaining top talent across the UK.”
This follows the firm raising its NQ salary by a bumper 18% last year, increasing from £110,000 to £130,000.
The Legal Cheek Firms Most List shows the London increase puts DLA Piper in line with firms such as Ashurst Perkins Coie and Norton Rose Fulbright, with DLA Piper NQs now out-earning their counterparts at the likes of Travers Smith and Reed Smith.
The news comes amidst a continuing junior lawyer pay war, with Silver Circle firm Macfarlanes hiking its NQ salary to £150k in line with the Magic Circle and US outfit Quin Emmanuel offering a record-breaking pay packet of £189k to its NQs. It is worth noting that at this time, Quinn Emmanuel does not offer training contracts in London.
They should have just gone to £150k. Big opportunity lost to gain credibility
Why not £200k? Even bigger opportunity to gain even more credibility.
There’s actually an even bigger opportunity to gain more credibility if they raise to £300k.
This would surely given them maximum credibility.
Not sure they can afford this based on their revenue per lawyer and net profitability, but I expect the associate pay bunching to be violent and they will increase the number of NQs on non-permenant contracts once the market turns. They certainly won’t let it impact PEP.
Blimey Yipit, I’m glad you’ve pointed this out.
I’m honestly astounded that DLA got to the point of announcing salary increases to the legal press before even reviewing whether they can afford it!!
I would have expected a global law firm to have done this level of financial diligence but I guess they’re lucky to have you comment here to make them aware.