City firms DLA Piper and Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner have announced pay cuts for solicitors qualifying this autumn in the latest wave of reaction to the pandemic, while listed firm DWF has deferred its summer intake of trainees until next year.

NQs at BCLP will be paid £78,000 down from £80,000 to ‘ensure that we approach a challenging period, pragmatically’. In May the firm also reduced the salaries of all employees earning over £32,000 by 15% for 13 weeks.

Meanwhile, pay at DLA Piper’s London office has fallen from £78,000 to £76,00 and NQs in its regional offices will be paid £44,000, down from £46,000. The firm said it would be ‘inequitable’ to pay 2020 NQs the same as 2019 NQs who are subject to deferred pay reviews.

NQ salary rates at top-30 firm Osborne Clarke are subject to a 7% deduction, as agreed by all staff earning over £30,000. Salary cuts will be repaid if the firm hits its 2020/21 target.

Trainees will also be affected by the new measures, with listed firm DWF delaying its new cohort from August 2020 to February 2021, in line with Irwin Mitchell's recent decision. 

Tony Williams, principal of legal consultancy Jomati and former managing partner at Clifford Chance, warned of a rocky year ahead for junior lawyers, with firms likely to be more selective about which trainees they take on. Hiring freezes and redundancies could also be on the table, Williams warned.