Reed Smith has raised its salaries for trainees and associates.
The US-founded firm has boosted first-year trainee pay by 4 per cent to £40,000, cancelling out a pay discrepancy that previously existed, where the three trainees it rescued from the collapsing King & Wood Mallesons were being paid more than the rest of the cohort.
King & Wood Mallesons had a starting trainee salary of £40,000, rising to £44,000 in the second year. Reed Smith’s starting trainee salary was £38,500, rising to £40,000 in the second year.
The new pay rises get rid of that gap, as second-year trainee pay has also been upped to the KWM level of £44,000 – a 10 per cent raise.
Meanwhile, newly qualified lawyers in the firm’s London office will now be paid £70,000, up from £63,000, an 11 per cent pay hike.
Past NQ level, the firm does not look at PQE but runs a “performance merit based approach” to salary and bonus.
Junior associates will receive base pay of between £70,000 and £80,000, depending on performance, plus a bonus of £7,000 should they meet their hours target of 1,600.
That chargeable hours target has risen by 100 hours, or 6.6 per cent, on last year.
Meanwhile, mid-level lawyers will now take home between £80,000 and £100,000, with a £10,000 bonus if they hit 1,600 hours. Mid-levels also have the opportunity to earn an additional bonus based on their individual performance and the firm’s targets being met
Senior associate base salaries start at £92,000, with a £13,000 bonus plus the opportunity for further bonuses.
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