Lawyers can still win guaranteed bonuses

Legal departments in investment banks are continuing to hire staff, particularly for employment law and credit derivatives roles, headhunters say.

Separate reports on the UK legal job market by the headhunters Hogarth Davies Lloyd and Sheffield Haworth provide snapshots of demand and salaries across the marketplace and at different levels of seniority.

The scale of redundancies underway at the banks has increased the need for employment lawyers, said Nick Lloyd at Hogarth Davies Llloyd.

Siobhan Lewington at Sheffield Haworth said the Employment Act of 2002 and EU directives protecting employees' rights were also creating demand for lawyers, to deal with issues ranging from unfair dismissal to maternity leave.

Lewington said some banks that previously relied on outside law firms for advice on employment law were now hiring more lawyers in-house. Someone with three years' experience could earn from 65,000 to 80,000 plus a bonus in an investment bank in London, said Lewington.

Pay was highest for lawyers working in credit derivatives. Lewington said lawyers in that area with three years' experience earned a base salary of between 70,000 and 85,000, plus a bonus of up to 100%.

The strength of demand for more senior lawyers in the credit derivatives markets meant many were still being offered guaranteed bonuses, she said.

Candidates with more than 5 years' experience were being offered guaranteed packages of more than 230,000.