City blueblood Slaughter and May has increased its salary for associates with 2.5 years post-qualified experience (PQE) or more, after putting newly-qualified (NQ) solicitors in line for a £100,000 pay package last summer.
The move means associates in the 2.5 PQE salary scale and above will now receive an increase of between 2.2% and 8.2%, effective this month. Last year’s pay hike only applied to those with up to 2.5 years PQE.
Last year Slaughters followed its Magic Circle counterparts in boosting NQ pay to the new £100,000 standard, which was first set by Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. The pay package saw a base salary of £92,000 bolstered by a bonus of around 8.5%, with the eye-catching figure a considerable increase on the firm’s previous NQ salary of £83,000.
Associates at Slaughters most recently received a bonus in December 2019 with NQs receiving an extra 8.7% on their basic salary. Meanwhile, five PQEs got a hefty 14.6% of their salaries as a bonus. Bonuses at Slaughters do not see every fee-earner receive the same percentage bonus, but those within the same pay bracket do, irrespective of hours billed.
The bonus packages are in line with 2018, when bonuses ranging from 8.25% to 14.5% were paid out as the firm revealed another lift in associate salaries.
A statement from the firm read: ‘We continue to value and recognise everyone’s contribution by rewarding our associates in a way that reflects the partnership’s flat lockstep structure and by not imposing billing or time recording targets.’
