Last one standing: UK-US firm A&O Shearman latest to hike its junior lawyer salaries

One of the largest law firms in the world A&O Shearman has upped its newly-qualified (NQ) salary to £150,000 for its London lawyers.

Coming in on the heels of Clifford Chance’s move on Wednesday, the newly merged firm announced on Friday that it has increased its NQ salaries to match its peers.

Fellow magic circle competition Freshfields raised its salary to the £150,000 mark on 3 May, in the same week the A&O Shearman merger went official. Following it was Linklaters on 17 May and Clifford Chance on 29 May.

Slaughter and May is left to be the last one standing at £125,000 per year for its NQs while the rest of the magic circle play catch up to the US firms in the City.

A&O Shearman has also upped its trainees salaries as those at year one will move up to £56,000, up from £50,000 while those in year two will also increase by £6,000 as they will earn £61,000.

Commenting on the price bump, Denise Gibson, London managing partner said: “With A&O Shearman we have created a unique law firm and our ambition is to be the firm of choice for the best, most diverse talent.”

“Our compensation structure gives us flexibility to reward expertise, performance and wider contribution and is designed to be highly competitive to reflect the markets in which we operate. Trainees and NQs are a key part of the firm’s future and A&O Shearman provides unmatched opportunities for them to build successful careers.”

She added that its people are fundamental to the firm’s success.

As noted previously in these NQ stories, the elite English firms are still behind the US law firms in the City.

Earlier this month it was revealed that US firm Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan hiked the salaries of its NQ London lawyers to £180,000.

At the start of this month, the most highly anticipated merger of former magic circle firm Allen & Overy (A&O) and US firm Shearman & Sterling formally completed.