The further a firm's score fell beneath 60%, the greater the indication that it had a real problem with paying staff, and should consider doing it sometime.
DWF (59%) trainees and NQs regarded pay as "generally good", but they were undone by senior lawyers who complained they were paid below market or, in the case of one braveheart, that "pay for regional English lawyers is higher than in Glasgow or Edinburgh which is unjustifiable".
Pay for Fieldfisher (59%) partners was "great for those in the inner circle" said a partner. "Everyone else is palmed off with peanuts and promises". A junior associate said that "Despite pushing out numerous articles to the press about the firm's success and pay for the top of equity", pay rises for the rest of the firm "were derisory". The "constant emails to all staff about how well the firm is doing", she said, "only seek to reinforce the resentment". Another said the pay was "embarrassing" and that associates "are leaving in droves" as a result.
At PwC (55%), "We are told salaries are benchmarked against the Silver Circle", said a junior. "And that is true. Salaries are consistently £10k less than the Silver Circle".
CMS (54%) nitpickers complained that the firm "pitches itself as being among the Magic and Silver Circle firms", but doesn't write the cheques to match. Trainees at CMS "are paid at the typical rate (£40k/£45k)", said a junior lawyer, "but our NQs are on £67k. Considering that management have been trumpeting that CMS are now among the 6 largest law firms in the world, it's a bit galling". Just £67k as an NQ. Imagine. Another conceded that he thought the pay was "terrible" because "they would have to pay me a premier league footballer's wages" to "adequately compensate me for the living hell that CMS has become post-merger". Others were more positive about the merger, and the pay.
As for those Silver Circle firms, Ashurst's (54%) trainee pay was "not up to par with the rest of the competition", said a trainee, "ignoring the frankly ridiculous US pay packets whacking my US counterparts in their US faces". A junior solicitor said it burned that staff were told in a presentation that "we got paid less than the Magic Circle because we had a much better work/life balance and working culture. Yeah right".
"When I told a recruiter about my salary", said a Womble Bond Dickinson (52%) junior solicitor, "they actually laughed in my face and thought I was joking". Senior pay was "reasonable", said a senior solicitor, but looking down, "retention of juniors won't happen at the poor levels of pay offered between NQ and 5yrs".
"Imagine trying to motivate an intelligent and highly qualified army of paralegals on the minimum wage", said a Plexus (52%) partner. "It just doesn't work". "I earn less than my partner who works as a plumber", said a junior solicitor. "I earn close to what 2-3 year PQEs earn at other similar firms", said a partner. But one junior solicitor countered that she had "enough to buy 4 bed detached in Yorkshire with my partner", adding, "We are 30. Suck that up Londoners selling souls to Yankee Law Firms to be able to buy a flat".
According to a senior solicitor at HFW (51%), "it has become an in-joke at just how tight the partners have become". Joint on 51%, a DAC Beachcroft (51%) lawyer invited others to "just look at RoF's inside info. Pay is not just below average, it is nearly bottom of the table". But a DACB partner said pay was "by and large linked to talent", and "the more irreplaceable you are the better paid you will be. PQE isn't such a big factor". A junior solicitor said the firm "continually uses the phrase 'market rate', while clearly having no understanding of what that actually means". He suggested it was "just an assemblage of words that they think sounds about right". He should take solace in the knowledge that plenty of firms were accused of bandying round the term.
"When considered pro rata on an hourly basis", mused an Addleshaw Goddard (50%) junior solicitor, "we'd be better off harvesting blood diamonds" Others countered that pay was "corrected" last year "in a vague nod to market trends and [the] retail price index".
Tip Off ROF
DWF (59%) trainees and NQs regarded pay as "generally good", but they were undone by senior lawyers who complained they were paid below market or, in the case of one braveheart, that "pay for regional English lawyers is higher than in Glasgow or Edinburgh which is unjustifiable".
Pay for Fieldfisher (59%) partners was "great for those in the inner circle" said a partner. "Everyone else is palmed off with peanuts and promises". A junior associate said that "Despite pushing out numerous articles to the press about the firm's success and pay for the top of equity", pay rises for the rest of the firm "were derisory". The "constant emails to all staff about how well the firm is doing", she said, "only seek to reinforce the resentment". Another said the pay was "embarrassing" and that associates "are leaving in droves" as a result.
At PwC (55%), "We are told salaries are benchmarked against the Silver Circle", said a junior. "And that is true. Salaries are consistently £10k less than the Silver Circle".
CMS (54%) nitpickers complained that the firm "pitches itself as being among the Magic and Silver Circle firms", but doesn't write the cheques to match. Trainees at CMS "are paid at the typical rate (£40k/£45k)", said a junior lawyer, "but our NQs are on £67k. Considering that management have been trumpeting that CMS are now among the 6 largest law firms in the world, it's a bit galling". Just £67k as an NQ. Imagine. Another conceded that he thought the pay was "terrible" because "they would have to pay me a premier league footballer's wages" to "adequately compensate me for the living hell that CMS has become post-merger". Others were more positive about the merger, and the pay.
As for those Silver Circle firms, Ashurst's (54%) trainee pay was "not up to par with the rest of the competition", said a trainee, "ignoring the frankly ridiculous US pay packets whacking my US counterparts in their US faces". A junior solicitor said it burned that staff were told in a presentation that "we got paid less than the Magic Circle because we had a much better work/life balance and working culture. Yeah right".
"When I told a recruiter about my salary", said a Womble Bond Dickinson (52%) junior solicitor, "they actually laughed in my face and thought I was joking". Senior pay was "reasonable", said a senior solicitor, but looking down, "retention of juniors won't happen at the poor levels of pay offered between NQ and 5yrs".
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The Womble on the right wants out |
"Imagine trying to motivate an intelligent and highly qualified army of paralegals on the minimum wage", said a Plexus (52%) partner. "It just doesn't work". "I earn less than my partner who works as a plumber", said a junior solicitor. "I earn close to what 2-3 year PQEs earn at other similar firms", said a partner. But one junior solicitor countered that she had "enough to buy 4 bed detached in Yorkshire with my partner", adding, "We are 30. Suck that up Londoners selling souls to Yankee Law Firms to be able to buy a flat".
According to a senior solicitor at HFW (51%), "it has become an in-joke at just how tight the partners have become". Joint on 51%, a DAC Beachcroft (51%) lawyer invited others to "just look at RoF's inside info. Pay is not just below average, it is nearly bottom of the table". But a DACB partner said pay was "by and large linked to talent", and "the more irreplaceable you are the better paid you will be. PQE isn't such a big factor". A junior solicitor said the firm "continually uses the phrase 'market rate', while clearly having no understanding of what that actually means". He suggested it was "just an assemblage of words that they think sounds about right". He should take solace in the knowledge that plenty of firms were accused of bandying round the term.
"When considered pro rata on an hourly basis", mused an Addleshaw Goddard (50%) junior solicitor, "we'd be better off harvesting blood diamonds" Others countered that pay was "corrected" last year "in a vague nod to market trends and [the] retail price index".
Comments
Why not just blame Snowball or Trotsky instead?