Paying the price of successThere are two ways of looking at the current rocketing pay rises for newly-qualified solicitors in the City.First, the increases - triggered several weeks ago by Clifford Chance's announcement it was boosting the annual salaries of newly-qualified assistants from 33,000 to 42,000 - could be viewed as a positive reflection of boom times at the top end of commercial legal practice; a natural and welcome by-product of a healthy market economy and the globalisation of the practice of law which rewards high quality performers.As the managing partner at Ashurst Morris Crisp is reported as saying in our news pages, 'the assistants in the firm are your lifeblood.

They work extremely hard and make a massive contribution.'An alternative view is that the large commercial practices are today paying the price for their own short-termism.

In the early nineties, when the gloom of economic recession was thick, law firms scaled down recruitment and even made many lawyers redundant.Commentators have suggested large firms over-reacted to the recessionary climate and failed to plan for a recovery.

Now there is a shortage of talent - a seller's market in good quality lawyers which is forcing the pay spiral upwards.It is to be hoped that when the current boom in demand for legal services slows down - as it inevitably will - the big players will have learnt a lesson from a decade ago.

Investing in the future always makes good business sense and no matter how tempting it might be to roll back salaries or even to shed lawyers, such moves have an even higher cost in the end.Finally, we report yet again how the rat-race of legal practice can lose its attraction, even for those who are highly successful runners in it.

Solicitor Jonathan Sattin retains a consultancy with a London commercial firm, but his main interest now is promoting and running his new yoga centre.

His move begs the question: how many of today's young, bright, highly paid assistant solicitors will be crying out for some lotus position relaxation in several years' time?