Bakers boosts junior lawyer pay by 19% to £140k

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By Legal Cheek on

31

Healthy increases for firm’s rookie too

The London office of Baker McKenzie has confirmed sizeable salary increases for both its newly qualified (NQ) lawyers and trainees.

NQ rates now sit at £140,000, up a whopping 19% from £118,000. This brings the firm, which recruits around 40 trainees each year, in line with the likes of Macfarlanes and Orrick, and £5k above Herbert Smith Freehills, which boosted pay earlier this month.

The firm’s rookies have also been handed pay increases. Year one pay will move from £50,000 to £56,000, while year two salaries will increase from £55,000 to £61,000.

The NQ rise is effective from 1 July, while increases to trainee salaries will take effect on 1 September.

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31 Comments

Rub a dub dub

Any news on increases for butchers or candlestick makers?

Slaughter and Dismayed

*cries in prestige*

Slaughters

They’re going to have to rise above 150k or they’ll be embarrassed forever

sad

More like W&C

The Sweatshop Boys

What are their retention figures looking like?

Anon

100/100 last cohort

Insignificant Baker

Sometimes I forget Bakers even exist, and then they do something like this… puts the SC (bar Macs) & Slaughters to shame.

Anon

Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet

Chris

Imagine how rattled you lot would be if Slaughters came out and raised to £160k.

Anonymous

Yeah and pigs might start flying

Haha

You sir get the wishful thinking award.

Leon

The magic circle is a myth.

Bob

It isn’t, it just doesn’t include S&M anymore. A&O, CC, LL, FBD have clearly similar business models distinct from firms below them, and pay more than the firms below them as well.

realist

SM has always been the outlier, that wasn’t a problem before. Their revenue is still ridiculous, and their work easily on par (or in certain areas, such as competition above) the rest of the magic circle. They do need to stop underpaying, however.

There’s a reason half of Oxbridge ends up at Slaughters and not Links. If anyone’s going to fall out the MC, it’ll be Links or A&O.

James

Don’t think you can claim that SM is above the rest of the MC for competition work – FBD is the clear market leader (e.g. ranked the top firm by Global Competition Review 15 times, Who’s Who Legal’s ‘Global Competition Law Firm of the Year’ 19 consecutive times).

realist

I’m not asking you to cite the sort of stats you’d put on an application. Half the firms pay for those awards anyway.

FBD has never been anyone’s go to for competition, though they certainly are go to for plenty of other things.

Whenever things go wrong in competition, it’s Slaughters people turn to.

SM Associate

I suspect Deborah can add Bakers, Macs and HSF to the list of firms we don’t compete with.

Anonymous

Will be funny once we find out the ridiculous salary bunching. When a senior associate only makes 5k more annually than an NQ.

Just ice ice baby

You think they make £5k more, and not £5k less?

Yess

Yesss man like bakers!!

Ffafa

Who’s gonna rise next that’s non MC/SC/US? Can any insiders confirm? 👀

Good whack

B&M didn’t know you had it ya; good whack

Anonymous

Me neither, I’m impressed

Another SM associate

Other than the lack of a raise, what’s upsetting is that SM boasted that reviewing salaries twice a year would allow them to better reflect market movements… and it turns out it just allows them to wait 6 months AFTER the market moves before taking action!

lol

Slaughters still holding to their prestige I guess

Who’s next

Is AG rising? Or Pinsets or Dentons?

Anon

Pinsents already announced a few weeks ago

Dentons SA

Dentons dont announce until August. This is after they announce staff salary increases in July and salaries dont raise with the announcement. You then realise how much you were shafted in August.

been caught up

Nearly a year to the day since they rose to £118k. What’s happening with the stagnant American firms who have been at 150k for a couple of years?

S&M Associate

I’m so desperate to leave… please anyone take me!!!

realist

If you were really a SM associate you’d have no problem leaving. Other firms snap them up.

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