Goodwin ups newly qualified lawyers pay to £147k in a second rise this year
US law firm Goodwin Procter has bumped up the salaries of its newly qualified (NQ) lawyers in London for the second time this year, City PM understands.
Junior lawyers at the firm have been given a pay increase of 7 per cent bringing their annual salary to £147,000 less than six months after Goodwin gave them a 10 per cent rise to £137,500.
Trainee salaries currently sit at £46,000 in the first year and £50,000 the following- but these rates, too, are expected to be reviewed later in the year.
Goodwin declined to comment on the reports.
Last week Slaughter and May announced that it would increase pay for its newly qualified lawyers to £100,000, matching that of rival Clifford Chance which only a month earlier said it would raise its junior lawyer salaries.
Earlier this month London-based Macfarlanes has become the first non ‘magic-circle’ City law firm to pay newly qualified solicitors packages worth £100,000.
The competition for talent is being driven by a boom in demand for legal expertise during one of the busiest periods for mergers and acquisitions.
A number of UK-based law firms have reported their best results as well as generous payouts for senior partners. At Allen & Overy, and Clifford Chance, partners received in the region of £2m on average, it is reported.
The news follows that of UK law firms being forced into a bidding war for junior associates employed by top-tier US firms too.
Goodwin has started offering sign-on bonuses to its London staff worth up to £36,000, City PM reported earlier this week.
The bidding war is more acute in the US where some firms are reported to be offering sign-on and retention bonuses worth tens of thousands of dollars or more.