_{Senior lawyers blame salary bunching on the NQ pay war - and the resentment is turning inwards.}

The sky-high pay of newly-qualified solicitors is fuelling significant resentment around salaries in private practice, RollOnFriday’s Best Law Firms to Work At 2024 has revealed.

‘NQ NV’ was by far and away the dominant gripe among the thousands of solicitors who took part in the survey, although it didn’t prevent US firms from yet again dominating the top of the rankings for satisfaction with pay.

Comments poured in: take a run through the goldmines and dustbowls with ROF.

1st Debevoise & Plimpton, Paul Hastings: 80%

“Bonuses are pretty great and not tied to hours billed”, said a junior solicitor at D&P. “Most importantly, it's been nice being able to afford a flat with a walk-in closet right after qualification”.

Colleagues agreed that hefty lockstep pay with a no-hours threshold for bonus entitlement “means there's no fighting come year end for hours”, which was “very different from other U.S. firms”.

A junior solicitor said he “Really cannot complain since we don't have formal billable hours targets; I often pinch myself that I make as much as I do”.

It wasn’t a gripe-free result: “The traditional deal was that UK associates get slightly less than the spot FX conversion of the USD associate salary, but we were expected to do 1800 hours versus their 2000”, said one Debs lawyer.  “It seems we are expected to do 2000 hours now”, they said – “but that's very do-able”.

“Solid bees and honey”, summarised a senior lawyer at Paul Hastings. “I make £300k base as a 7PQE plus about £90k guaranteed bonus if I make my 2000 hour target which is quite easy to achieve”.

It was “Hard not to be very happy with the pay given the immense amounts of cash (and giving the full 13.5% ENIC saving on pension salary sacrifice)”, said a junior colleague, “but downlevelling laterals by a year sometimes leaves a bitter taste when compared with the market. A 2PQE could join in September and be paid like an NQ until the annual class bumps come early in the next calendar year”.

3rd Kirkland & Ellis, Weil, Goodwin Procter: 79%

Kirkland & Ellis is the go-to example of US pay for lawyers at other firms, and it narrowly missed out on the top spot for pay satisfaction. “Good pay… in exchange for zero autonomy over your life. That’s the deal!” summed up an associate.

That’s true of several US firms. “Goodwin pays well, but you are expected to be at the firm's beck and call 24/7. You are essentially selling your soul”, said a GP lawyer.

“I make just under £300K base with a $100K bonus so I guess I get by”, said a senior Goodwin colleague.

But, “Considering we need to bill 1950 hours and are all doing above that, relatively speaking it's pretty poor”, suggested a colleague.

A senior solicitor at Goodwin Procter admitted ,“I am paid obscene amounts of cash to be the most average lawyer in the City. Management throw money at you constantly. I assume they do this to make up for the other faults with the firm”.

It’s “More than enough” said a peer at Weil “(but I would like more)”.

6th Burges Salmon: 77%

At the Best Law Firm to Work At 2024, “The pay seems fair for the work/life balance, expectations, etc, but there's not enough of a gap between the NQ pay (i.e. the headline one that gets published in the press) and the associate/senior associate pay (which is kept pretty confidential outside the firm)”. It’s the qualification that cropped up everywhere this year.

“You can never have enough pay - but the balance with the intangibles is key to a happy life at Burges.  Not perfect, definitely, but very very good”, was the majority view.

8th Taylor Wessing: 73%

At Taylor Wessing the pay is “Very decent although salary bunching is real”.

“NQs are juniors are vastly overpaid (across the market) relative to their value add”, said a colleague. “This means that seniors are not adequately compensated for the value they bring and additional pressures/responsibilities they deal with”.

10th Bird & Bird, Forsters: 72%

Second Best Law Firm to Work At 2024 Bird & Bird’s pay “is not the highest in the market but work life balance and firm culture make up for it, also the bonus structure is based on % of salary so it is much higher than base, usually”.

Apparently there were two “extraordinary - referring to timings being unusual, not quantum of raise - pay rises last year to adjust to changing market conditions. This was decent of the firm”.

A senior solicitor at Forsters couldn’t believe his luck. “I am paid maybe £10k less after tax than jobs that come up at the lower-paying US firms (with equally poor reputations for work) and my peers who stayed at my old City firm. Astonishing… it is slightly unreal given the massive difference in hours”.

12th Birketts, Mills & Reeve: 71%

A senior solicitor at Birketts was also grateful: “It really winds me up when people get on their soapbox about pay. You have it all at Birketts: great work/life balance and non-psychopathic management. If you don't like it, leave”.

Maybe the senior solicitor who complained that “I only earn £10k more than the NQs” will do just that.

Mills & Reeve “used to be criticised for poor pay but masked it with 'culture' and not being a sausage factory”, said a lawyer. That was “not great as we work just as hard as any other lawyer and should be paid as such. These days the salaries have caught up with the market however I'm pleased to report. And it is still a really good place to work”.

Others said it was still “Nowhere near market pay but this is somewhat made up for by the lovely culture, supportive partners and decent work/life balance”.

“It’s fine”, said another senior solicitor, “ - nothing to rave about but it gives me a good life in London and funds a decent online shopping addiction”.

14th Trowers & Hamlins: 70%

“Considering the amazing culture and work life balance, I think we are paid very well. Especially in the regions”, said a senior Trowers solicitor. For others, the NQ issue was magnified by London weighting: “Do not feel great about being paid the same as an NQ in London when you are a senior associate with over 6 years PQE in the regions” said one.

15th Travers Smith, Horwich Farrelly, Russell-Cooke: 69%

“£50k and I’m happy” said a junior solicitor at Horwich Farrelly. “Based up North. I own a 4 bed house. I’m 34. Says it all” said a similarly content colleague.

“I am paid a very high salary (by any normal standard) - my friends at US firms get paid more, but they also work much longer hours”, said a Travers lawyer keeping things in proportion.

Pay was “fine”, agreed a colleague, but there has been “severe bunching of the pay bands at higher PQE to offset the frankly absurd NQ salaries”, which was particularly galling “given the average junior is poor”. Ouch.

18th Addleshaw Goddard, Allen & Overy, Osborne Clarke: 68%

The same point was made more diplomatically by an AG lawyer. “As with many other firms, when I see my pay and compare it to what NQs get paid it feels like a bit of a slap in the face, particularly in technical departments where it takes a long time for juniors to become of much use”, she said. “But if I were to ignore NQ/junior pay and just consider my salary alongside the other advantages of my job and working at AG, I feel less hard done by”.

It's benefited some. “Can't complain”, said a senior AG solicitor. “The pay war in Manchester re NQ salary hikes means my pay has risen by over £30k in 5 years. I rarely work past 7pm and I get my weekends so I am generally happy”.  And, “although the 4-6% pay rises this year didn't go down well with the masses, I got a 25% pay rise the last two years running (thanks DLA) so again, ain't nobody getting our their tiny violins for us!”

Allen & Overy came top of the Magic Circle for pay satisfaction, where one junior solicitor said they were “Less concerned about pay, more concerned about working for human partners and senior associates, and having trainees available”. Nonetheless, they also “Made approx £153k including bonus last year as a 2.5PQE which whilst not on a US level is still an incredible amount of money”.

Not everyone was as satisfied: “Still can't get around the fact that I work 80-90% as hard as US counterparts while receiving 50-60% as much”, said a maths-minded colleague.

At Osborne Clarke, pay is “very competitive for the Bristol market albeit nobody ever likes hearing that a London based NQ at the same firm is earning more”. The jump from NQ to 3PQE “is about £8k”, said a less happy colleague, while another noted that while Pay rises were “meagre” in 2023 they “followed a bumper pay rise” the year before.

“Seeing the NQ pay being re-evaluated every year while higher up the % of increase barely covers for the cost of living increase is frustrating”, said a senior Hogan lovells lawyer. “Senior associates will soon be paid almost the same as NQs even though NQs can't do shit…”

For others, the pay:workload ratio “feels right for me most of the time - clearly I could go elsewhere and earn much more but for me the increase wouldn't be worth it, given the pay-off on workload, and expectations around working on holidays and weekends”.

22nd Baker McKenzie, DLA Piper, Herbert Smith Freehills, Penningtons Manches: 66%

“Can't complain” said a 6PQE Bakers lawyer: “£150k base, bonus last year around £60k”.

“Objectively, £155k is a good salary”, agreed a contemporary. “But when you realise that is £10k more than someone 5 years your junior who leaves the office at 6pm whilst you run billion dollar deals, the pay bunching starts to grate…”

Salary bunching “is very prevalent. £2k between NQ and 1PQE and then £2k between 1PQE and 2PQE”, said another Bakers lawyer. It “does not reflect the difference in charge out rate or difference in experience/responsibility”.

DLA Piper won plaudits for having “massively increased pay in the regions a few years ago. One or two firms have since matched this [see the AG lawyer above], but the vast majority seem unable to compete”.

Also at other national firms, it pains some DLA Piper lawyers in the regions when they see what NQs in the London office are earning: “I'm based in Leeds and at 6PQE I am still paid considerably less than a London NQ”, said one.

“Considering that Fri evenings and weekends are generally respected and I get 27 days annual leave, it's a very solid pay to effort ratio”, said a Herbert Smith Freehills lawyer, although another complained that “Magic Circle friends in my intake are on base salaries of £30k+ more per year”.

26th Clifford Chance, Dechert, Fieldfisher, Harbottle & Lewis, Macfarlanes: 65%

"I make an unreal amount of money - combined salary and bonus around £280k” said a 7 PQE at Clifford Chance.

“The only problem is US firm lawyers making an even more unreal amount of money.  The grass is always greener, however, and some of the stories I've heard coming out of those sorts of firms makes my work-life balance seem positively excellent."

“We get paid £50k despite having no experience or anything of value to offer’, said a self-deprecating CC trainee. “It's significantly more than a lot of my friends in other industries”.

“It’s still slightly less than the King’s ransom paid to US firm associates”, said a senior Clifford Chance solicitor, “but if you meet your bonus target the total comes in close. OK, so a 96% nominal maximum bonus is unachievable, but you don’t have to work anywhere near US hours to get to 80%”.

“Decent if you score well in performance reviews”, was the general verdict of Macs, although “Increases aren't as chunky as you get further up the PQE scale”.

The pay bands for associates “are incredibly squashed” said a colleague. “However, the pay is generally reasonable, until you look at the partners and see they get 25 times as much as you do”.

31st Ropes & Gray, White & Case: 64%

At US firm Ropes & Gray, pay is “Cravath equivalent if you hit 1900 hours” and get the bonus, while White & Case “Should be Cravath scale”. instead it’s “at the bottom end of the prestigious US law firms (both for base salary and bonus), but the quid pro quo is I seem to work fewer hours than peers at other US firms”, said a junior solicitor.

“Couldn't be much higher for the work some of the teams do”, ventured a catty colleague.

33rd Freshfields, HFW: 63%

“It's on the high end for London firms - a lot less than US firms but I think the trade-off is better culture / work-life balance”, judged a Freshfields lawyer, while several said the bonus was “excellent”.

Although another Freshfielder complained that he was “chronically underpaid compared to our colleagues at American firms. The firm continues to refer to a necessary pay rise that happened nearly two years ago as if it was last month, when in reality 15% of our earnings have inflated away since then” and “we could be paid double elsewhere”.

HFW ”has made real effort to compete on pay. We used to be a very long way behind, but have had some pretty generous pay rises”.

“The main negative is that the bonus structure is convoluted and out of step with competitors - technically our target is 1500 hours, but the first bonus threshold kicks in if we get 1600 billable hours AND 150 value hours (for PD, pro bono and such). 1,750 hours is magic circle targets, without magic circle pay”.

35th Hill Dickinson, Irwin Mitchell, Linklaters: 62%

Where else do Irwin Mitchell    and Linklaters share a berth?    "We get less than other firms on the basis work life balance is better, but mine is terrible”, said an IM lawyer. “The gap between NQ and associates around 10PQE is an icky £15k".

At Links, “£190k for a managing associate is good pay, no doubt”. It’s “Not the top of the market”, said another senior lawyer, and “there's always the temptation to jump for double the cash at a US firm, but I hear absolute horror stories from some of the colleagues who did the same. Would struggle to deal with the lack of professionalism, mostly.”

39th BCLP, Watson Farley & Williams: 60%

The salary is “probably about right for my level but paying NQs over £100k still feels a bit strange”, said a senior BCLP solicitor. Quite a few at the firm were looking around for benchmarks. “Yes, we are paid less than the likes of Addleshaws, Eversheds and Dentons but the firm also isn’t as profitable as those outfits”. It’s “fine if your competitors are Simmons & Simmons etc. It’s not if they’re A&O”, said another.

Look, pointed out a BCLP lawyer, “A friend of mine who works for a magic circle firm had only two free weekends over the period of one year. So if one compares the annual pay at such firms to the actual amount of hours, then BCLP actually wins”.

There was also some peeking around at Watson Farley & Williams: “Osborne Clarke get the same pay for 1350 billables whereas WFW have 1700 hours target”, said an envious WFW lawyer. And some peeking within: “Good for my level, but I do take issue with the fact that current NQs and juniors are paid as highly as they are when they add little value to the deal or to the firm”, said an unforgiving colleague.

41st CMS, DAC Beachcroft, Gowling WLG: 59%

“NQs and mid level associates are paid well. The difference between seniors and juniors is laughable as NQ salaries just keep being bumped – crazy”, said a CMS lawyer.

One “pretty jammy” CMS solicitor had a different perspective: “There are a lot of teams (mine) who don't even have 4 hours of billable work to do a day so, if you think about hourly rate, we are better paid than the US firms. I am gonna find it very hard to match the comparably killer pay packet I have here.”

No such luck at DAC Beachcroft, where “It’s galling as a 10+PQE to know that there are NQs in the same city on nearly as much as you”, Then again, “you’ll never make mega bucks doing insurance work and the flexible working policies go some (but not all!) the way to making up for the less competitive pay”.

NQ pay rises and pay bunching are of course closely connected issues, and while Gowling WLG’s leaders “are trying to keep up with the market on NQ salaries” they “are not increasing salaries higher up, such that senior associates of +8 PQE are paid just £10k more than NQs”.

44th Blake Morgan, Howard Kennedy, Stephenson Harwood: 58%

A Howard Kennedy on “£91,500 pa and bonus of c. 10% of base salary” marked herself as pretty happy, but a trainee complained that ther pay “doesn't pay a London rent in a bloody flatshare”.

“They should rename the appraisals process ‘give me a list of things I can pick apart so that, however we'll you're doing, we can find the reason to mark you down and not give you a pay rise’”, grumbled another HK solicitor.

47th Freeths, Norton Rose Fulbright: 57%

“£125k for 3PQE” was “objectively good at the start of the year, but now it’s looking behind peers. Management has committed to maintain competitiveness...let’s see…” said a Norton Rose Fulbright lawyer.

“To give the firm credit, they are very good at keeping pay rises to a minimum after qualification and subsequent promotions, ensuring that there is terrible bunching of salaries”, joked a colleague.

49th DWF, Mayer Brown: 56%

“Hopefully the delisting will lead to the purse strings being loosened”, said DWF lawyers: “Wages continue to be a source of contention…we’ll see what the pay review brings but at least they can’t fob us off with shares this time”.

Mayer Brown landed surprisingly low on the pay satisfaction table this year, and there were content voices. “I'm paid stupidly well even though I do not make anything like Cravath / Kirkland levels of money.  Those guys & gals sell their souls for it.  It's probably why they subsequently think they're worth it”, said an MB senior solicitor.

51st Reed Smith, RPC, Shakespeare Martineau, Shoosmiths, Squire Patton Boggs: 55%

The same applied at Reed Smith: “All in (pay/bonus/pension) I get paid about 1/3 of the cash received for my hours last year, which is pretty fair in the grand scheme of things”, calculated a solicitor there.

“£64k in Bristol at Associate level seems okay”, said an RPC solicitor. “Nothing to jump for joy about, but also not low enough to make me answer recruiter cold calls - yet.”

At Shakespeare Martineau, pay "is the number one thing raised at all firm wide meetings”, said a solicitor. “We are constantly told we are at market rate, but how does that work when we can go three doors down the road and get paid 20% more?”

“The most annoying thing is that they tell me it’s in line with other firms when it is not - as if we don’t talk to friends and peers in other firms?!” agreed a colleague.

“I'm based in a regional office and pay is perfectly fine relative to the market here”, said a Shoosmiths lawyer. Unfortunately they’re cursed with ability to see further afield. “The looming spectre is London though; where we have colleagues working on the same files for similar hours and reporting similar billables on a circa 50% higher salary. A London weighting is absolutely expected but the scale of the gap seems unjustified”.

“Normally I would say it is fine, but seeing what NQs earn in our London office is an absolute joke. There are junior associates there I trained who earn better than me!” exclaimed an exasperated colleague.

“5PQE (earning less than £60K)  and seeing newly qualified solicitors starting on significantly more than this is beyond damaging to morale”, agreed another.

The same issues were evident at Squire Patton Boggs where a senior solicitor based in Leeds said they were “Very well paid for what we do compared to others in the region”, but the London weighting “does grate”. A 3PQE is on “between £3-£5k more p/a than an NQ”, said a colleague.

56th Slaughter and May: 54%

Those commenting on the pay at Slaughter and May were largely positive. “£158k for 4PQE is a lot of money by any metric”, said one. “We're clearly miles off from BigLaw, but we've broadly kept up with the Magic Circle, and I'm glad not to be working for an American M&A factory (even if the hours probably aren't wildly different during the crunch times)”.

“Objectively no-one sensible can complain (though many do), but for a loaded firm to always be the last to increase pay takes away any feeling of being valued”, countered a junior solicitor at the Magic Circle firm.

57th Mishcon de Reya, Slater and Gordon, Womble Bond Dickinson: 53%

“Considering I can skip out at 1730-1800 most days and canteen food is decent and cheap, I suppose I should stop whining at £40k+...” said a Mishcon trainee. Older heads were less forgiving. “It’s not market rate for a 3PQE (£102k). For a firm that says it stays competitive against its silver circle rivals, I can tell you the salary certainly doesn’t.”

Womble Bond Dickinson’s recent NQ pay increases “are great news for the incoming lot but no use to us who have been there for a few years”. They’re “now only earning £2-3k more than the juniors” meaning that “Serious pay increases are needed across the board if they wish to keep their talent”.

60th Ashurst, Pinsent Masons: 51%

Ashurst NQs “keep eating my payrises” and “Bonuses are weak”: 2000+ hours “gets you maybe max 20% bonus”, said one lawyer. At Pinsent Masons, regional variations drove such discontent as there was. They “are an outrage”, said one senior solicitor: “I supervise London juniors with 12 years less experience who earn more than me”.

“Of course it is objectively good and I have three meals a day. But it is below market”, counselled a colleague.

63rd Gateley, TLT: 49%

Gateley “giveth and taketh away - after years of low pay they upped pay last year to something resembling comparitve firms”.

“But as a result of doing so it meant no one received a bonus as the ‘bonus pot’ had been depleted by the pay increases. Needless to say staff morale has taken a hit”. Management can’t win, although holding “no Christmas party last year as they spent the money on the Instagram firm party including paying Vernon Kay to DJ” was arguably an own goal.

Most of those who commented on TLT’s pay were fairly positive, despite its sub-50% score. Although pay for the TLT Bristol office “fails to compete with OC or Burges Salmon”, staff said the firm had “recently given staff a healthy pay rise to narrow the gap”.

It was “Not competing with the likes of Simmons - but worth the gap in terms of work/life balance and not working for mercenary bastards”, added another TLT lawyer.

65th Dentons: 48%

A Dentons junior solicitor said he was “Way underpaid given 2300 billable with 85%+ collection”, and although a colleague countered that in fact it was “Fairly generous in the market”, even they said “there is a problem with NQ pay being so high that there is nowhere to go following qualification”.

66th Charles Russell Speechlys, Kennedys, Keoghs: 47%

“It's uncanny”, said a Charles Russell Speechlys lawyer. “It's like they know the absolute minimum figure you'd accept, rather than start job hunting, and pay you that.  The ceiling cap for senior associates has not moved in many years despite rampant inflation.  Give it another few years and the NQs will not be far below the cap themselves.”

Sooner than that if one CRS trainee gets their way: NQ pay is “Below market at 85k”, they said, “particularly when you factor in that late nights and long hours are increasingly common firm-wide”.

Pay for senior fee earners at Kennedy is “a joke compared to the pay for NQs... how can NQs make more than some partners in regional offices?!” said one aggrieved insider.

“I had to threaten to resign to get a pay rise as did others”, said a senior solicitor at the firm. “They say they benchmark and the percentages are fixed. But if you threaten to resign over it, the percentages are soon forgotten”.

Keoghs suffers from “Famously poor pay, with entire teams struggling to manage an external hire as a consequence”, said a solicitor, although a trainee disagreed: “as an ex-Plex who was on minimum wage for several years, I’m very satisfied with the bump I’ve been given”.

69th Eversheds Sutherland: 46%

There was similar perspective at Eversheds Sutherland, where a junior solicitor observed that his pay was “£50k more than my partner, who is a nurse, earns for a much more (emotionally at least) demanding job”.

Others had a different, less forgiving perspective. “DLA pay substantially more for the same hours target and their office is closer to the station”, said one lawyer.

70th Clyde & Co, Knights: 40%

Pay at Clydes “has never been the selling point. We remain ludicrously overpaid in the grand scheme of things so it's hard to grumble”, said one lawyer. Not so, according to a colleague who claimed to have “Made more per hour working as security at clubs and festivals”.

A trainee said the pay was “Consistently under market”, but they “can hardly complain. Most people leave at 6pm”.

The pay rises at Knights this year “were not good, quite insulting actually, and it's been hinted that there will only be pay rises next year connected to promotions - KPMG style”, said a disgruntled lawyer at the Golden Turd.    

There had been only a “Marginal increase since being acquired”, said a lawyer in one of the legacy firms bought up by the listed business,  “despite ‘growth of firm’ and increasing profits. No real way of arguing for pay or promotions as its all wink wink nudge nudge”.

The sprawl of Knights saw a “Massive disparity between offices, and when you were recruited. New joiners are on miles more than those who have remained loyal and not moved around”, complained a lawyer. “For the work life balance, it is more than fair”, said others.

72nd Capsticks: 32%

Capsticks was one of the few firms where senior lawyers did not complain about rocketing NQ pay, but it came last for pay satisfaction. Instead, post-pandemic remote working arrangements were seen to have disproportionately benefitted the London office.

“Londoners get a higher salary, which ordinarily I’d be fine with, however since Covid a lot of Londoners now live in the regions and commute once a week/once a month”, said a Capsticks solicitor in the sticks. Others said their pay “consistently sits below the market” and “is too low for the hours expected”.

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