Shoosmiths has announced pay rises for its newly-qualified lawyers across the UK, with those in Scotland getting a 3.6% increase.
The firm has offices in Edinburgh and Glasgow and will welcome two newly-qualified lawyers to its Scottish operation this year, adding to the two currently in training. From November, this year's new starts in Scotland will receive an annual salary of £57,000, up from £55,000 currently.
Newly-qualified lawyers in London will receive an 8% pay rise, from £90,000 to £97,000, as a result of this year's annual pay review. Salaries in the rest of England will go up by 5% to £63,000 while in Belfast the NQ rate will rise to £37,500, up from £36,500.
READ MORE: Law firm Shoosmiths hails record results
Shoosmiths chair Kirsten Hewson said the new pay scale reflects the "applicable market dynamics" and the firm's desire to attract the "best of the next generation of lawyers".
“At Shoosmiths, we’re known for being a great place to work, with bright, engaged, high-performing teams that deliver excellence for our clients," she said.
"Cultivating that positive environment starts with ensuring our junior colleagues thrive and excel. We are very pleased to offer a salary increase as a part of our holistic approach to developing our lawyers, affirming our dedication to training aspiring solicitors in a culture that’s supportive and ambitious.”
Ms Hewson added that salary increases are just one of the ways Shoosmiths demonstrates its commitment to supporting and nurturing junior talent. The firm has received numerous accolades for its training, most recently winning “Best Law Firm for Peer Support” in the Legal Cheek Awards 2024 and being named one of the “Best 100 Student Employers” by RateMyPlacement 2024.
In September the firm will welcome the first cohort of its Solicitor Apprenticeships programme, a vocation-based training scheme that offers an alternative route into the legal profession.
It is expected that four individuals will qualify as solicitors over a six-year period under the apprenticeship scheme which will launch in the Birmingham office. There are plans to expand the programme to other core offices in subsequent years.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here