Shearman ramps up associate pay as war for talent intensifies

Newly-qualified UK lawyers at Shearman & Sterling will see salaries pushed up £7,000 to £95,000 this year as City salaries soar. Rises of between 7% and 10% have been dished out across the associate ranks, with more experienced associates set to trouser up to £12,000 extra a year. The salary increases took effect from 1 May, 2016.

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High Court judges’ pay rises rejected despite recruitment levels falling

Despite warnings of poor morale at the judiciary coupled with flailing levels of recruitment, the Senior Salaries Review Body (SSRB) has rejected a higher pay rise for more senior judges, saying any differential would be ‘divisive’ and de-motivate other judges.

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‘In control of our own destiny’: Burness Paull staff get 7.5% bonus as firm posts double-digit revenue and profit growth

As McClure Naismith reveals its difficulties in the Scottish market today (20 August), Burness Paull has shown it is not all doom and gloom for independent Scottish firms by posting double-digit growth in both turnover and profits, with revenues increasing by 11% to £51.3m and profits up 12% to £23.2m.

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Lockstep has to go for Magic Circle to enter new global elite

Conservatism and intransigence are qualities often bemoaned in the legal industry, in many cases beyond their manifestation. But there is one aspect in which the upper reaches of City law have shown a resistance to change verging on the surreal: the desperate embrace of a highly restrictive model of lockstep.

As we argue in our Future of Law special this month, the Magic Circle model is under intense pressure after seven years in which big changes in the industry and global economy have shifted against the group. Under the bonnet, these firms – which are well-run institutions that have been a British success story for very good reasons – have been through substantial restructuring in response. With a better global economy, strong international networks and transactional and contentious activity currently robust – a leaner and more productive big four are positioned for dramatic increases in profitability as their core markets pick up. And 2014/15 should be a very respectable year for the group.

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Clifford Chance votes through changes to lockstep in bid to retain heavyweights

City giant’s remuneration review comes after recent key departures

In a move considered overdue by some, Clifford Chance (CC) voted through proposed changes to its remuneration system in late April, creating a more flexible lockstep by stretching the top of the ladder in a bid to retain star partners.

The firm traditionally operated a lockstep system with a single profit pool, where partners spent three years as juniors before progressing on to the equity ladder, which ranges between 40 and 100 points. Under the changes voted through, leading partners can be moved from 100 points up to either 115 or 130, while others may be brought down from the 100-point plateau to 70 points. While billed by management as a fairly comprehensive review intended to look at performance across all geographies, it remains unclear which criteria will be used to determine how partners will move up or down the ladder.

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Slaughters starts salary race with £70k for NQs

The yearly contest to attract new talent has started with Magic Circle duo Slaughter and May and Linklaters both making salary hikes of over 5% for junior lawyers, while Hogan Lovells kept pace by bumping its junior pay up to match Slaughters’ £70,000 newly-qualifieds’ (NQs) salary.

Although Linklaters reported its NQs received a £3,500 pay increase to £68,500, this was still behind Slaughters, which has traditionally been a bellwether of trainee and associate salaries among the Magic Circle and gifted an 8% wage bump to NQs, taking them to £70,000. However, Linklaters’ salary bands were increased more aggressively higher up the associate ladder as both two and three-year post-qualification experience (PQE) lawyers were given sizeable salary increases that topped Slaughters.

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Shearman maintains NQ salary gap with Magic Circle as pay rises 6% to £88,000 while trainees get 15% boost

The first US firm to release its London salaries for the new financial year, Shearman & Sterling has maintained the salary gap it holds over Magic Circle rivals, offering newly-qualified lawyers (NQs) £88,000 a year, £5,000 more than in 2014.

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