Wage war breaks out in City to lure young solicitors

Newly qualified solicitors are being offered starting salaries of £45,000 in a move that has sparked a wage war between London law firms.

Newly qualified solicitors are being offered starting salaries of £45,000 in a move that has sparked a wage war between London law firms.

The salary, a record for England-based law firms, applies to solicitors who have completed their training with the lawyers Allen & Overy and Linklaters and Alliance.

In May, City of London law firms, including Allen & Overy and Linklaters, increased their starting salaries by up £5,000 to £42,000 in a bid to compete with American firms offering their graduates anything from £50,000 to £100,000.

A spokesman for Allen & Overy said the latest increase took effect from yesterday and applied to all solicitors whoqualified with the firm in March this year. Linklaters said its rise also applied to all its six-month qualified lawyers.

Both firms said they wouldraise salaries for all post-qualified assistant lawyers. A three-year-qualified lawyer at Allen & Overy can expect to earn £64,000. The firm has also raised sponsorship for students taking the legal practice course (the former solicitors' finals) to £5,000 plus tuition fees.

The firms said competitionfor the best graduates was a factor in their decisions. The other three "magic circle" firms - Clifford Chance, Freshfields and Slaughter and May - are expected to follow suit and raise pay for assistant solicitors before the next pay round in May.

In three years starting salaries for City lawyers have risen by up to 30 per cent. A survey for The Lawyer magazine this year found that American firms in London were offering newly qualified lawyers as much as £100,000. Gill Jones, of the legal recruitment consultancy Taylor Root, which carried out the survey for the magazine, said final salaries could be higher after bonuses.

Ms Jones said British law firms would be worried about losing the best young lawyers to American rivals, but said she did not believe UK firms could match the Americans as they needed to appoint far more recruits. American firms in London aim for the most profitable markets and could afford to pay more, she said.

Max Mayer-Aull, 22, will join Allen & Overy next year after completing his legal practice course. The firm is paying him £5,000 "rent and beer money" and all tuition fees up to £7,000. When he qualifies after 30 monthshe can expect to earn £45,000, rising to £50,000 by the end of his first qualified year.

He said the starting salary was not the reason he chose the firm. "I spent a vacation placement with Allen & Overy. Everybody was very down-to-earth and approachable. If I was in it for the money I would have joined an American firm."

The pay rises highlight a growing disparity between the big City law firms and smaller high-street practices, where some trainee solicitors are paid as little as £13,000.

* A Law Society survey this week revealed that many young lawyers experience some form of bullying in the workplace. It found that one in five newly qualified solicitors reported being bullied, mostly by a senior member of staff.