In-house lawyers in the north-west saw their salaries go up significantly last year thanks to high demand and a shortage of candidates.

Solicitors in the two to three years’ post-qualification experience (PQE) bracket were particularly sought after, according to a survey of around 120 in-house lawyers by recruitment consultancy BCL Legal.


The average salary for those with two years’ PQE grew 10% to £38,000, while the average earnings for those in the six years’ PQE bracket rose to £60,000, up from £56,500 last year. The maximum salary in that bracket shot up from £68,316 in 2004 to £88,000 last year.


The highest salary reported this year, for a candidate with more than ten years’ PQE, was £150,000 – up from £142,000 the previous year.


BCL Legal recruitment consultant Mark Levine said: ‘We have had a number of [recruitment] campaigns over the last year, including United Utilities, AstraZeneca and BNFL. They were all looking for the same type of candidates – general commercial contract lawyers who are two to four years’ qualified. These candidates are now in demand, and are hard to find. There is a massive amount of general commercial contract roles in-house.’


He added: ‘The maximum salaries have jumped quite a bit – particularly in the fields of construction, and private finance initiatives. There is also still a lack of consumer credit lawyers.’


Two-thirds of the candidates questioned received a bonus last year, compared to 44% in 2004. The average bonus was £8,500. Mr Levine said: ‘There have always been performance-related bonuses. But last year was a good year, and more people that we spoke to had received an amount at the high end of their bonus potential. Most of it is down to company performance.


‘I had one candidate in the steel industry who received a salary of £45,000 in 2004, which went up to £55,000 last year, with a 100% bonus, because of litigation where he had saved the company a lot of money.’


More lawyers (77%) received a car allowance last year, with the average amount rising to £6,500. The number of candidates who received pension contributions also rose slightly to 95%, with an average employer contribution of 12%. However, slightly fewer candidates received private medical insurance, down 3% to 92%. The number of candidates who were entitled to 25 days’ holiday or more remained the same at 92%.