Clyde & Co and Fieldfisher are the latest firms to announce an increase in salaries for newly-qualified lawyers as the City’s bidding war for talent shows no sign of slowing down.

International firm Clyde & Co announced a 14% rise in its London NQ salaries from £70,000 a year to £80,000 from this month, while City firm Fieldfisher also boosted its NQ pay from next month, by 10% from £77,000 to £85,000 in London and by 11% from £45,000 to £50,000 elsewhere.

Rob Hill, partner and chair of Clyde & Co’s UK board, said: ‘We are focused on investing in our people in all respects so that they can enjoy long, fulfilling and varied careers with us while providing clients with the market leading levels of service and legal advice they expect from a firm of our standing.’

ID- J8FDAR (RM)

Fieldfisher boosted its NQ pay from £77,000 to £85,000 in London and from £45,000 to £50,000 elsewhere

Source: Alamy

A spokesperson for Fieldfisher said: ‘While salaries are important to attract the best talent, pay isn’t everything. We pride ourselves on the strength of our Fieldfisher community, where we promote inclusiveness and diversity of all skills, strengths and perspectives, encourage innovation and endorse collegiality.

‘We believe in giving our junior lawyers maximum exposure to a variety of experiences and opportunities to work with incredible people, both at our firm and on secondments. This helps them develop into, and be rewarded for being, the best lawyers in their field.’

The pair are the latest City firms to increase junior lawyers’ pay in the ongoing ‘salary war’, with Squire Patton Boggs raising first-year trainee solicitors’ earnings in London by 27% to £47,000 which European managing partner Jonathan Jones said reflects ‘the robust activity levels across our business and the highly competitive market to recruit talent’. Global firm Baker McKenzie also announced a 16.7% increase in NQ pay to £105,000 in December.

However, earlier this month legal recruitment consultancy Edwards Gibson warned that ‘history tells us that law firm salary wars don’t tend to end well for associates, and more importantly for law firm management they have always been a portent of a market correction’.