Akin Gump has increased trainee salaries by 12% and 8% for first and second years respectively, with the group representing the first trainees the US firm has taken on, while its newly qualified (NQ) pay remained static this financial year.
The trainees, who are set to qualify this autumn, are Akin’s only trainee intake and were formed when it took over Bingham McCutchen’s London office in 2015.
Despite only starting a trainee programme in 2015, Akin is raising incoming first-year trainee pay from £43,000 to £48,000, and second-year salaries from £48,000 to £52,000.
The US firm’s first-year pay packets are also competitive, equal to that of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, and only trumped by Debevoise & Plimpton at £50,000, according to Lex100.
NQ pay at the firm remains £112,500 at current exchange rates. The firm last increased NQ remuneration levels in September 2016 from £100,000.
This, however, remains one of the most competitive NQ rates on the market, with peers such as Jones Day last week announcing an increase of up to £100,000, while Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom pays NQs up to £118,000, according to Lex100.
The firm has up to four trainee places available for its next intake in 2019, receiving around 300 applications per year, and the salary increases will be effective from September 2017.
Akin’s director of international legal recruiting and development in London Victoria Widdows said trainees at Akin ‘quickly become an integral part of the London office and we want to ensure that salaries are reflective of this at the top end of the market, as is the case with our NQ salaries’.