By Kian Ganz
THIS year’s first round of
trainee and newly qualified
(NQ) associate salary reviews
have so far yielded several pay
freezes and a couple of modest
pay increases.
But unlike during the
dotcom crash of 2000 there
have as yet been no salary cuts
resulting from the fallout from
the global financial crisis.
Herbert Smith led the
pessimism in April by freezing
salaries across the board. Magic
circle firm Allen & Overy (A&O)
also froze its associate salaries
and increased only marginally
first-year trainee solicitor
pay by £800 to £37,000 per
LAwYER 2b
Trainee and NQ salary increases
fall prey to effects of credit crunch
CONGRATULATIONS to Naila
Jabeen Gul and Sioban Taylor,
who emerged victorious from
the gruelling selection process
in the annual Lawyer 2B/BPP
Law School essay competition.
The duo will be taking up
their prizes – free places on
BPP’s LPC and GDL courses –
this September. They have also
been awarded places on an open
day with law firm Addleshaw
Goddard.
VOL 7 ISSUE 4 WWW.LAWYER2B.COM MAY 2008 £3.99
Law schools
Behind the scenes
at the College of
Law and BPP
Page 22
annum. Simmons & Simmons,
conversely, froze its first-year
trainee salary at £36,000 and
upped its NQ pay by just £500
to £64,000.
While last year’s flush times
saw Clifford Chance and
Linklaters up their lawyers’
salaries by a whopping 15 per
cent each, this year the magic
circle was feeling less generous.
First seat trainees at
Linklaters now get 3.6 per cent
more at £37,400, while NQ
solicitors were bumped up by
3.9 per cent to £66,600. Clifford
Chance trainees and NQs this
year drew level with Linklaters’
as Clifford Chance upped
trainee and NQ pay by 4.8 and
4.9 per cent respectively.
GDL winner Gul, who is
currently in the final year of a
BA in Criminal Justice and
Criminology at the University of
Leeds, said she was thrilled with
the result. “It means I can now
concentrate on my studies
without the worry of financing
the GDL,” she said. “I didn’t
really want to ask my parents to
pay for the course as I wanted to
prove I could do it myself.”
Gul will be taking the GDL at
Money talks: reaction to the global financial crisis has been mixed
Freshfields, meanwhile, had
boosted NQ pay by £10,000, or
18 per cent, last year, but was not
so profligate this time around
Lawyer 2B/BPP essay competition – the winners
BPP’s Leeds branch and
eventually wants to go on to
train as a barrister.
Taylor, who scooped a free
place on the LPC at BPP’s
Manchester arm, graduated in
December 2007 with an MA
in Medical Law from the
University of Manchester. She
is currently working for her
father, who runs his own
business.
Taylor said: “Winning the
INSIDE: #THE LAWYER NEWS REVIEW P13 #CITY NEWS P17 #CAREERS: APPLICATION FORMS MADE SIMPLE P60 #REGIONAL FOCUS: LEEDS P69
Mooting final
Aspiring lawyers
do an Eminem and
go the extra 8 Mile
Page 31
with an average increase of just
2 per cent across the board. First
seat trainees are now on
£39,000 and NQs £66,000,
competition has taken away the
financial worry of completing
the LPC. I really enjoyed the
judging day as it gave me an
insight into commercial law,
which is an area I haven’t
considered before.”
In her essay Gul argued that
retaining DNA samples taken
from innocent people can never
be justified. Meanwhile, Taylor
discussed the legal issues
confronting UK companies that
Vacation schemes
Why getting in on
the ground floor is
no walk in the park
Page 53
translating to £1,000 each more
this year than last.
Of the other firms to already
have announced their pay
reviews, Bird & Bird posted the
most impressive trainee hike of
19 per cent to £37,000, taking it
close to magic circle rates. Its
NQ pay was lifted by £5,000, or
9 per cent, to £60,000.
By contrast, Bird & Bird’s
traditional technology law rival
Olswang has frozen its NQ
salary at £62,000.
Some are laughing, however.
US firm Shearman & Sterling
NQs now get £80,000 in
London – £5,000, or 7 per cent,
more than last year – and
first-year trainees get £39,000,
a hike of £2,500.
continue to manufacture
in China.
#You can read both winning essays
on pages 77-81
Plus
The Graduate
Recruitment Guide to
LAW FIRMS in
association with
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