EXCLUSIVE: DLA Piper raises London newly qualified lawyer pay to £110k

Regional salaries receive boost to £75k

International firm DLA Piper has raised the salaries of its newly qualified lawyers, taking City recruits up to £110,000 with their regional counterparts rising to £75,000.

The new figures represent a 10% increase across the board for the firm’s newest associates, with the previous figures sitting at £100,000 and £68,500.

With trainee pay remaining the same, rookies in the City office will continue to receive £50,000 in year one, and £55,000 in year two, with regional trainees on £34,000 and £37,500 respectively.

The firm has also announced its PGDL and SQE grants. Students in London will receive £12,500 for their conversion courses, with graduates taking online courses or those in the regions awarded £8,750.

For the SQE students can then expect a London grant of £17,000, with those elsewhere handed £12,000.

The Legal Cheek Firms Most List shows that the outfit takes on around 65 trainees each year.

This pay boost is the latest in a string of rises that have hit firms across the UK in recent months. Fellow international firms Herbert Smith Freehills and Hogan Lovells both increased their NQ salaries to £135,000 in recent weeks, with Macfarlanes going further to hit £140,000.

HFW has also boosted its NQ pay up to £100k, with Bird & Bird climbing to £98,000.

These more recent changes follow a significant shift in the Magic Circle, with Freshfields, Linklaters, A&O Shearman, and Clifford Chance all boosting rates to £150,000 earlier this year. Slaughter and May has so far stood firm, keeping junior lawyer pay at £125,000.