Newly qualified solicitors at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan will be paid almost as much as the Mayor of London, as the City firm hikes the starting salary of associates to over £145,000.
Trainees who qualify this year will be paid £146,000, up from the previous benchmark of £135,000. Those with one year of post-qualification experience (PQE) will receive £154,000 and those with two years' PQE will get £166,000.
NQ pay at Quinn Emanuel now rivals the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan's salary – £152,734 – and exceeds the sum paid to the head of the Welsh civil service.
The City's battle for junior talent is now well under way, with a host of firms boosting pay in response to pressure from the US. Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, Ashurst and Clifford Chance have all increased their NQ salaries in recent weeks, to £88,000, £90,000 and £100,000 respectively.
Meanwhile, it has been reported that US practices Davis Polk, Milbank and Simpson Thacher has also upped their salaries, with NQs receiving $202,500, $200,000 and $205,000 respectively.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, figures published by the government earlier this month revealed that law degrees result in a wider range of salaries than almost any other subject. Department for Education data shows that law graduates can earn between £18,600 and £69,400 on average five years after graduating. Business and management is the only degree to have a larger variation in median earnings between providers.
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