Kirkland & Ellis's London office has increased all its associates' salaries. Bands have gone up across the board, starting with £97,000 for a newly qualified lawyer - a £7,000 rise on the previous rate.
The increases put the firm at just about Latham & Watkins' level for NQ pay, putting Kirkland comfortably in the premier league of City salaries, just behind Bingham McCutchen which pays its NQs £100,000 and Sullivan & Cromwell (£97,500). Other firms paying similar rates include Weil Gotshal (£90,000), Skadden Arps (£94,000) and Debevoise (£94,250).
One delighted Kirkland lawyer told RollOnFriday that he was now "even more overpaid". He claimed his friends at Magic Circle firms all put in similar hours for much less pay, and that he was looking forward to a Christmas of "sipping mould wine (sic) with a smile on my face".
Sharp eyed readers will note that all of the top-paying firms are American. And the source at Kirkland makes a fair point: at £30-£40,000 a year more than Magic Circle rates, why wouldn't associates take the yankee dollar? The old line was that US firms were more likely to hire and fire than their UK counterparts, but following the mass redundancies throughout the City during the recession that seems hard to sustain. UK firms will have a serious fight in 2012 to retain their top talent.
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The increases put the firm at just about Latham & Watkins' level for NQ pay, putting Kirkland comfortably in the premier league of City salaries, just behind Bingham McCutchen which pays its NQs £100,000 and Sullivan & Cromwell (£97,500). Other firms paying similar rates include Weil Gotshal (£90,000), Skadden Arps (£94,000) and Debevoise (£94,250).
One delighted Kirkland lawyer told RollOnFriday that he was now "even more overpaid". He claimed his friends at Magic Circle firms all put in similar hours for much less pay, and that he was looking forward to a Christmas of "sipping mould wine (sic) with a smile on my face".
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A Kirkland lawyer sipping mould wine yesterday |
Sharp eyed readers will note that all of the top-paying firms are American. And the source at Kirkland makes a fair point: at £30-£40,000 a year more than Magic Circle rates, why wouldn't associates take the yankee dollar? The old line was that US firms were more likely to hire and fire than their UK counterparts, but following the mass redundancies throughout the City during the recession that seems hard to sustain. UK firms will have a serious fight in 2012 to retain their top talent.
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You won't get hired at a US law firm with that level of attention to detail!
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mould wine by the picture refers to the comment in the text above "mould wine (sic)". As you say, you won't get hired at a US law firm with that attention to detail.
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http://www.insidebuzz.co.uk/law/simpson-thacher-bartlett/graduate-career
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Accordingly, surely the question is bonus for nqs and pay 2+pqe.