Lawyer salaries up, but bonuses are dropping

Some good news this afternoon for lawyers.

 

The average salary in the legal sector has risen by £5,000 over the past year, a five per cent increase from the previous 12 months. 

 

The jumps means that the average lawyer’s salary now comes in at £108,690, up from £103,450 in 2012/13. But bonuses aren’t following the trend. After average cash bonuses of £35,590 last year – equivalent to 34 per cent of salary – payouts dipped to £31,495 this year, or 29 per cent of salary. 

 

The total bonus pot expected to be paid out to UK lawyers over this season is £2.7bn, with more than half of that (£1.2bn) set to be handed out in the next two months.

 

 

The fall in discretionary pay means overall remuneration rose by a much more modest one per cent, from £139,040 to £140,185.

 

The research was carried out legal recruiter Laurence Simons, which talked to 383 lawyers in the final quarter of last year.