McDermott Will & Emery has followed Davis Polk’s lead, raising its London trainee pay to match the highest market rates.
Effective from 1 January, the Chicago-headquartered firm will offer a salary of £65,000 in year one, rising to £70,000 in year two. The rates previously sat at £53,000 and £58,300 respectively.
Just last month, Davis Polk announced its updated pay scale for trainees, with recruiters at the time forecasting that other US firms would follow suit, establishing a new benchmark for entry-level salaries.
London managing partner Aymen Mahmoud (pictured) told LB: ‘It’s no secret that our focus has been on growth but that means lateral and organic growth.’
‘We are really setting ourselves up for the future here by ensuring that our existing offering of top tier culture and focus on our clients is also matched by our ability to attract the very best legal talent at all levels to ensure that long-term organic growth.’
Back in July, LB revealed that McDermott had increased pay for its newly-qualified (NQ) to $225,000 (a little over £170,000 at current exchange rates), matching the Cravath scale for associate compensation all the way to eight years PQE.
Cravath Swaine & Moore’s latest rates, announced in November 2023, set NQ pay at $225,000, with $235,000 for second-year associates and $260,000 for third years, rising to $420,000 and $435,000 for seventh and eighth years respectively.
McDermott will also match Cravath’s bonuses, but with adjustments that give associates the potential to earn even more.
The intense competition for top talent has driven ongoing pay increases for trainees and newly qualified lawyers, raising eyebrows across the broader market.
David von Dadelszen, director at Jameson Legal comments: ‘There must be a hint of an incoming upturn in work to spark a war for talent but doesn’t sound as imminent if firms are competing for trainees.’
McDermott’s London office has experienced a wave of change in recent months, prompting some market peers to question if the firm is moving too rapidly. Alongside Mahmoud’s promotion to managing partner, private equity veteran Graham White has assumed the role of London senior partner.
In the last eight months, on top of White, the firm has made nine partner hires, including debt finance heavyweight Chris Kandel from Morrison Foerster in May and private equity partner Fatema Orjela from Sidley in April. Earlier this week, LB revealed that the firm had hired CMS international private equity co-head Jason Zemmel – its third hire this autumn following Sebastien Bonneau from Eversheds and Candice Nichol from KPMG.
