Hogan Lovells has increased its pay for both trainees and newly-qualified (NQ) lawyers for the second year running after a freeze on trainee pay in 2012.
The firm’s first-year trainees will receive £500 more, pocketing £39,500, while second-year trainees will receive slightly more at £45,000, up £1,000 from last year. NQ lawyers will see a more generous increase at £65,000 up from £63,000 in 2013.
The increases follow on from last year’s new rates, which were slightly higher than this year, when first and second-year trainees both received an extra £1,000, and NQ lawyers saw pay rise by £1,500. These came after the firm froze trainee pay in 2012 and only increased NQ wage by £500.
The firm said it does not release pay bands for its post-qualified lawyers, as it uses a merit based system.
The new salaries place the firm ahead of Ashurst, which offers its first and second-year trainees £39,000 and £44,000, while NQ lawyers take home £63,000.
The Magic Circle has also recently issued a mixed bag of pay rises in the last month, with Linklaters and Slaughter and May offering improved pay across all trainee and associate bands, while Allen & Overy announced a freeze on trainee and NQ pay levels.
Hogan Lovells’ trainee and NQ pay levels since 2011:
| First Year Trainees (£) | Second Year Trainees (£) | NQ’s (£) | |
| May 2011 – May 2012 | 38,000 | 43,000 | 61,000 |
| May 2012 – May 2013 | 38,000 | 43,000 | 61,500 |
| May 2013 – May 2014 | 39,000 | 44,000 | 63,000 |
| New confirmed salaries – May 2014 | 39,500 | 45,000 | 65,000 |
