salary expectation

[Guest]

hi,
trainee solicitor here - just wondering what salary i can expect on qualification? I'm in a small regional firm (7 small offices, approx 12 partners) in the north east and practicing company commercial law

thanks!

[ULA]

There are "average salary" surveys produced by the lawyer which may be helpful and then look at recruiters websites like G2Legal and Search Legal to see what is the current rate for NQ's in the north east in your discipline. To get an exact salary may be difficult but you should be able to get information on a salary range which may help in any negotiations on salary when you become qualified.

Good luck.

[gh97]

hi ULA, these tend to be for the bigger regional firms so its hard to find anything!

[R0b]

North-east lawyers are amongst the lowest paid than their counterpart regions and I think that also comes down to cost of living too but also the north east doesn't bring in much commercial work than other regions, assuming the north-east we are talking is York upwards. Given that the firm is a small regional they probably don't have as much money to splash than larger regionals so that may, as a general rule of thumb would bring down your saraly a by a couple thousand.

Obviously you've not given us details of your current trainee salary but I am going to guess it might be around the £25-£28k mark for first year, then second year you might get an increase of £2-£3k and then on qualification you could see an increase of anywhere between £3-£5k.

To give you an idea, when I made inquiries about a north east job for someone on a 2 year PQE they were telling me the average paid salary was anywhere between £38-44k. So for an NQ salary for com-corp you might expect something between £32-£35k and then perhaps a couple thousand increase each year accounting for your PQE for the first few years.

Firms obviously know what other firms are paying or will have a good idea so they will no doubt want to keep themselves competitive if they want to retain you and if one or two firms up salaries, expect the majority to follow. Com-corp lawyers are probably few and far between in the northeast which could put you in a better position to negotiate but do your research first.

As Ula says, recruitment salary guides are a good starting point but why not give the recruiters a call direct and ask them if they've landed any NQ jobs recently and what might you expect to achieve for your area of law.

[gh97]

hi Rob,

my training salary for first year was 16650 and then jumped to 19000 for second. a colleague of mine is 3 years PQE and is on 30k so i presume my salary would be similar to this on qualification due to being company/commerical?

[gh97]

he is in conveyancing^

[R0b]

Well I can't say definitely because as I said smaller firms tend to pay less but going from £19k to £30k NQ would be a bit of a jump, especially if your colleague is 3 PQE and on £30k. ComCorp lawyers tend to get paid a little better than those in other sectors but not by a great amount. I should think you would be on something similar to your colleague at NQ level.

Like I said your salary tends to increase in line with your PQE so you could be around the £24k mark, give or take but that's really just a guess. Larger firms will of course pay more and £30k is probably about right for what those firms pay.

Are you close to qualifying or still early stages?

[gh97]

hi Rob,
sorry so do you think i will be around 30k newly qualified or what my colleague was on when he qualified (i assume around 25k)? i had the feeling it would be around 26/27k for a newly qualified com/corp*
i have around 6 months left til qualified.

i know it's a long way off but how long does it typically take to reach salaried and then equity partner? around 8 and 12 years respectively?
*

[R0b]

I'd be surprised if you hit £30k as you'd then be paid better than others with more PQE than you - that's not typically how it works.

As for SP or EP, really depends on the firm, their size and structure, competition, how well you are recognised for your work etc. There's people I know who have become salaried partner in their thirties and less than 5 year PQE and others longer. You might have a better chance of climbing the ladder in a smaller firm than a large regional.

Just as an aside, if it's money your after then certainly bigger firms will pay you more but it might come at a cost. For example, in a larger firm you will do typical NQ grunt work whereas in a smaller firm you have the opportunity to get stuck in to doing work above your PQE and get the experience. That experience might allow you to command a higher than normal salary should you wish to move on to somewhere else.

[gh97]

thanks rob,

of course to a certain extent money is a factor, its a hard and long route to qualifying! i think i'm lucky in the fact that the area i love working in is also one of the best paid. Even so, in my region a salary of over 40k is fantastic due to the low living costs so hopefully that is attainable after a few years PQE..

[ULA]

I would not hold an expectation that you will be on 30k as an NQ even if you are in company/commercial particularly if you are intending on staying in the firm given the details you have provided and the region you are working in.

Are you the first trainee at the firm? If not do you know what maybe the most recent NQ's have been offered and in what areas they are practicing? You may then get an idea of what salaries are being offered for NQ's in your firm and then you can add a small percentage for the area that you are qualifying into.

In my experience of running a law firm, offers of salaried partnership were entirely down to the merits of the individual not necessarily set time-scale, although typically someone would be 5 years + PQE. Things we looked at were fee-earning contribution over the years as a solicitor, their ability to network and bring in new business and in what other aspects did they contribute to the business i.e. did they have skills in other areas e.g. social media, mentoring new trainees/NQ's, marketing, starting to show leadership qualities by maybe working on small internal projects etc.*

Speaking with recruiters, even though you are 6 months away would be useful for you to get an idea of what is on offer out in the market-place. Are you tied into your law firm post qualification? Some law firms offer training contracts but do not necessarily guarantee an NQ position as the end of the 2 years.*
*

[gh97]

hi, i think there are 4 other trainees to myself this intake.

i know of two NQ's in litigation and conveyancing who qualified on 25k*which led me to believe it may be around the 27k mark for comp/commercial?

i enjoy working there and i feel that i will be retained after qualification as performance as been good. Do you have any tips/advice on how to stand out nd climb the ladder quicker after qualification?

[ULA]

I would suggest that you are in the right ball-park on NQ salary.

You need to think about your overall contribution to the firm, not just what you can do in earning fees. Be prepared to attend networking events, think of ways to bring new business into the firm and not necessarily in your area of expertise, if there are projects or initiatives that you feel you can contribute to ask to get involved. For me when I was dealing with looking at prospective partners it was not just their ability to bring in or exceed their fee targets, it was about a wider contribution to building the reputation and business of the firm.

[gh97]

thanks i appreciate the feedback. in terms of hitting targets, what would you find particularly impressive? i.e. if i had a target of 4k per month and continuously billed 4.5k, 5k?

[ULA]

Don't forget targets will increase over time as you become more experienced so you should expect that as your target is increased then it may be harder for a time to over-achieve. It will also depend on the complexity of the cases you are dealing with but someone regularly achieving 15% + over target is doing well.

However please do not under-estimate the other requirements I have mentioned, an over achieving fee-earner on targets who engages in no other business activities for the firm would not be a partner of the future for me. That said those were things that I looked for in potential partners and it may be different in the firm that you are in at the time.*

Hope that helps.