_{With a salary of around £8,500 a month after tax, Ropes NQs can now bid without restraint.}

Ropes & Gray is the latest firm to announce NQ salary rises, which puts it in the top-end paying bracket for City lawyers.

The Boston-headquartered firm will pay its London NQs a base salary of £170,000 (not including a bonus), up from £165,000, effective from 1 January 2026. 

The rise puts them among the most minted NQs in the City in the £170k+ club. Although those with the biggest, shiniest watches, just a smidge above, are currently at the likes of Gibson Dunn, Davis Polk and Paul Weiss (all on £180k).  

Ropes will also hike trainee salaries, from 1 September, as first year trainees will earn £62,000 (up from £60,00) and second year trainees will earn £67,000 (up from £65,000). The firm achieved a 100% retention rate in its most recent NQ intake in September 2025; it may not be surprising that all the trainees accepted, given the golden carrot dangled on qualification.

“Our commitment to attracting and retaining the brightest legal talent is reflected in this salary increase,” said Rohan Massey, London Managing Partner at Ropes & Gray. “We are proud of our training programme and the exceptional work our trainees and newly qualified solicitors deliver for our clients.”

Ropes & Gray placed 13th with a 'very satisfied' score of 73% in RollOnFriday's Best Law Firms to Work At survey.

Understandably, most of the comments were overwhelmingly positive. A junior lawyer said they were "paid considerably above market when including full bonus". 

However, before the pay rise to £170k was announced, there were some grumbles, with some green-eyed Ropes lawyers saying the firm did not automatically apply the Cravath scale for salary in London.

A senior Ropes lawyer revealed: "London associates receive a catch-up payment bringing their salary in line with the US scale at the end of each year provided they bill at least 1900 hours. It does not seem fair that their US counterparts are paid US scale salary on a month by month basis regardless of performance and targets. "

Another junior lawyer commented: "We should be paid full US Cravath scale given we do same hours and quality of work as our US peers (and service the same clients)". 

However, plenty of other Ropes lawyers believed the firm offered a more than fair deal, for the hours worked: "Provided we hit 1900 hours (which I always do) we are paid Cravath, although a lot of this comes through the year end bonus. Can't ask for more really". And the sympathy-ometer is likely to be low for anyone outside of the firm, hearing about Ropes lawyers being unsatisfied with their pay.

A Ropes statement confirmed that the firm offers a "US-Aligned" bonus opportunity for London associates and counsel, with a ‘hybrid bonus’ model for associates from their first full year onwards. 

"This model allows all London associates and counsel who achieve prescribed targets to receive a salary top-up to match US scale (pay and bonus), as set under the firm’s US compensation framework," said the firm.