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OPEN THREAD: What are law firms REALLY paying their junior lawyers?

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By Legal Cheek on

10

Share your salary below the line 💬 💷


Newly qualified (NQ) solicitor salaries continue to grab headlines, with Legal Cheek’s latest exclusive data revealing that the highest-paying firm now offers its freshly qualified lawyers a whopping £181,000. But what happens to those eye-watering pay packets as associates climb the post-qualification experience (PQE) ladder?

While firms are generally happy to publicise their trainee and NQ salaries, as detailed in Legal Cheek’s Firms Most List, pay further up the associate ranks remains something of a mystery.

The 2027 Legal Cheek Firms Most List

And with NQ salaries continuing to climb, are pay rises further up the ranks keeping pace, or is the gap between newly qualified and more experienced lawyers narrowing?

So, continuing what has become something of an annual tradition here at Legal Cheek, we’re calling on our trusty readers to spill the details in the comments section below. We want to know your firm (London or the regions), department, PQE level or class year and salary (base plus bonus for the latest financial year).

guest

10 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Tired
Tired
2 hours ago

Regional office (Leeds) of UK law firm.
2PQE @ 72k plus bonus

Peter P
Peter P
1 hour ago
Reply to  Tired

Any insight on bonus amount/targets

Zen
Zen
2 hours ago

This will be interesting….

He who isn't named
He who isn't named
2 hours ago

City law firm 1PQE (silver circle) 170K + performance bonus

Yes Man
Yes Man
1 hour ago

I call cap.

DD
DD
1 hour ago

Yeah I’m calling troll. I’m 2PQE at silver circle firm (hate that term btw) and my total comp isn’t even 170k

Rupert
Rupert
1 hour ago

Any partners at US firms want to disclose their pay?

Rupert
Rupert
1 hour ago

160k base, 5PQE, Birmingham office of international firm

DLA enthusiast
DLA enthusiast
39 minutes ago

Anyone spill on DLA’s regional offices?

Anon
Anon
28 minutes ago

£110k plus bonus tied to dept performance. I
qualified 4 years ago and spent two years in London before moving to the regions

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