Lawyers beat bankers on pay
Lawyers have overtaken investment bankers at the junior level of the salary stakes. Newly qualified staff are earning up to 89,000 (€133,000) a year before bonuses, compared with about 86,000 last year.
The salaries are going to this autumn's intake by US law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. The New York firm's partners average profits of 1m each. US rival Debevoise & Plimpton pays 72,000 a year to its recruits, who are recently qualified 25-year-olds.
Salaries at US law firms eclipse those at their UK counterparts, where this year's pay for a newly qualified lawyer is about 50,000 a year against 48,000 last year. Slaughter & May and Clifford Chance, members of the Magic Circle of top UK firms, are offering this year's intake 50,000.
Graduates at Europe's top accountancy firms, who make about 25,000 during training, can expect to double their salaries by joining investment banks' finance departments when qualified.
Investment banks, which were among the highest payers of graduates, offer base salaries of about 40,000 with the promise of a Christmas bonus. But they have become less attractive employers because they no longer guarantee bonuses for junior staff. Lawyers and accountants who stay with their firms after two or three years' training are likely to double their salaries.
