The City war over pay for newly-qualified solicitors appeared far from over today after DLA Piper announced an 18% salary boost for its London-based NQs, who will earn £130,000 a year from September.
Meanwhile, solicitors based in the firm’s offices outside London will enjoy a 9.3% pay rise, to £82,000 a year.
DLA Piper's trainees will also see their salary increase. London-based trainees will see their salaries increase by £2,000. In their first year, they will earn £52,000, rising to £57,000 in their second year. Trainees outside London will earn £35,500 in their first year (up from the current £34,000), which will rise to £39,000 in the second year.
Andrew Dyson, UK country managing partner, said: ‘We are making a significant investment into our people in the UK, recognising the importance of the UK legal market as a focus for growth within our international strategy. We are delighted to enhance the rewards to newly-qualifying solicitors at a level that reflects the high performance of our firm in the UK.’
DLA Piper is the latest in a growing line of firms to boost NQ pay. Last month, Hogan Lovells announced that salaries would rise by 2.7%, to £140,000, following a 12.5% increase last year. Slaughter and May announced it was holding its NQ salaries at £150,000.
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