Ashurst, CMS and DLA Piper have all hiked pay for newly qualified (NQ) lawyers as the battle for junior talent continues to rage.
Ashurst has increased its NQ salary to £140,000, with DLA bumping rates up to £130,000 and CMS to £120,000.
Ashurst’s pay boost represents a 12% increase from the previous rate of £125,000. The increase means Ashurst’s NQ salary has risen by more than 60% in the last five years
In the process, Ashurst has leapfrogged Norton Rose Fulbright and Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer, both of which pay £135,000.
At £140,000, it is on par with Baker McKenzie, Hogan Lovells and Macfarlanes. Alongside Macfarlanes, Ashurst is now the highest paying UK firm outside of the Magic Circle, whose members all pay a rate of £150,000.
DLA’s increase to £130,000 represents an 18% increase from the previous rate of £110,000. The firm has also increased NQ pay by 9.3% to £82,000 in the firm’s six UK offices outside of London.
DLA UK managing partner Andrew Dyson said the increase reflects ‘a significant investment into our people in the UK.’
Elsewhere, CMS’s 9% hike to £120,000 equates to a £10,000 increase from its previous NQ rate of £110,000 and puts the firm level with Travers Smith and Simmons & Simmons.
Like DLA, the international firm has also increased its regional pay rates; NQs in Bristol now receive £76,500, and in Manchester, Sheffield, Liverpool, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen the base rate has risen to £68,000.
