There are huge variations in pay among IT professionals working in the legal sector, with some employees earning more than double their counterparts at rival firms for carrying out the same job, research by recruitment consultancy Graham Gill has found.

Graham Gill's winter 2003/04 survey of the top 100 law firms saw pay for the top posts of IT director or head of IT range from 43,000 to 165,000.

Further down the scale, a network or infrastructure manager can earn anything between 44,000 and 65,522, while an analyst programmer or developer receives between 18,200 and 53,580.

The lowest-paid IT staff, meanwhile, are help-desk analysts or first-line support, who earn as little as 16,800 in some firms.

Tamara Beasley-Suffolk, legal IT recruitment consultant at Graham Gill, said that, surprisingly, some small or medium-sized firms paid their middle-ranking IT staff more than the top firms did.

'Smaller firms can be more flexible and will pay a bit extra for the right people - the big firms may have to fit individuals into pay bands and are often constrained by that,' she explained.

Ms Beasley-Suffolk said that firms were increasingly looking to hire IT staff who could add value to the business and were confident working in a partnership.

Experience in the legal sector was also sought.

She said: 'People now have to be very customer-facing - even for traditional roles such as a programmer or developer, where in the past individuals might have sat all day in front of a screen.'

Ms Beasley-Suffolk also reported that legal IT recruitment started to pick up again eight months ago, after a slump that saw recruitment levels and salaries fall.

Philip Hoult