Legal Business

Slaughters, A&O and Linklaters announce associate pay increases

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Trainees, NQs and PQEs to receive salary boost.

Setting the bar for trainee, newly-qualified (NQ) and associate pay last month were early Magic Circle movers Slaughter and May, Allen & Overy (A&O) and Linklaters, as Ashurst, Hogan Lovells and Shearman & Sterling were among other firms to announce changes.

Linklaters’ decision to increase pay pushes it ahead of the Magic Circle pack, with first-year trainees’ pay up by £500 to £40,000, and NQ salaries by £1,000 to £65,000. One-year post-qualified experience (PQE) associates also took home an extra £1,000 to £70,500, while two and three-years PQE saw more substantial increases, up by £3,750 and £4,500 to £82,000 and £93,500 respectively. These increases are significantly higher than last year, when pay rose by £2,250 and £1,000 respectively for two and three-year PQE associates.