Reynolds Porter Chamberlain is the first City firm to abandon the flat rate for newly qualified lawyers.
RPC currently pays its London NQs £58,000 p.a. but this will be replaced from September 2014 by a merit-based system. Those who have performed exceptionally during their training contracts and who are in busy areas will be paid in excess of current rates: up to Magic Circle levels in some cases (around £64,000). Those who aren't as badly beasted and/or were less impressive will get less, and in some cases that will be less than the current rates. The firm claims the reduction won't be large, but then it hasn't disclosed quite how low the bottom band will go.
Jonathan Watmough, RPC's Managing Partner, told RollOnFriday that the change was about fairness rather than saving cash (although it'll be interesting to see whether the new system finishes up costing the firm more or less next year than the old system would have done). He said "the concept of the flat rate has passed its sell by date and no longer has any integrity. It does not recognise the different merits of individual NQs nor does it recognise the market variances between the different branches of law into which they will qualify".
Most firms have started to move away from the traditional lockstep system for associates by introducing ever wider salary bands, so this seems a logical progression and one that is likely to be widely imitated.
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RPC currently pays its London NQs £58,000 p.a. but this will be replaced from September 2014 by a merit-based system. Those who have performed exceptionally during their training contracts and who are in busy areas will be paid in excess of current rates: up to Magic Circle levels in some cases (around £64,000). Those who aren't as badly beasted and/or were less impressive will get less, and in some cases that will be less than the current rates. The firm claims the reduction won't be large, but then it hasn't disclosed quite how low the bottom band will go.
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RPC next year |
Jonathan Watmough, RPC's Managing Partner, told RollOnFriday that the change was about fairness rather than saving cash (although it'll be interesting to see whether the new system finishes up costing the firm more or less next year than the old system would have done). He said "the concept of the flat rate has passed its sell by date and no longer has any integrity. It does not recognise the different merits of individual NQs nor does it recognise the market variances between the different branches of law into which they will qualify".
Most firms have started to move away from the traditional lockstep system for associates by introducing ever wider salary bands, so this seems a logical progression and one that is likely to be widely imitated.
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