Biglaw, Money, Skaddenfreude, United Kingdom / Great Britain

Biglaw Pay Raise Watch: Weil and Cleary to 180, Latham to 190!

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Yes, it’s true — we swear! This is not just another wild rumor. You can take this one to the bank!
The Bank of London, that is. From TheLawyer.com, a U.K.-based website:

Weil Gotshal & Manges’ London associates now earn more than their counterparts in New York after a 20 per cent pay hike in London.

The US-headquartered firm is now offering some of the most generous pay packets in the City with newly qualifieds (NQs) now receiving £90,000, representing a 20 per cent jump from £75,000. First-year associates who qualified in September 2006 will receive an average of £95,000.

If you enter the figure of £90,000 into this currency converter, you get the sum of $178,441, based on the current exchange rate. And Weil isn’t even the most high-paying firm in the city:

This puts Weil towards the top of the market in terms of US firms in London. Latham & Watkins still offers NQs the most, with £96,000, and Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton offers them £92,000.

Latham’s salary of £96,000 for new lawyers translates into $190,341. Cleary’s £92,000 comes out to $182,411.
So should U.S. associates pack it all in and jump across the pond? Or does London’s high cost of living, plus the crappy food — Gordon Ramsay and good Indian joints notwithstanding — make the move not worth it?
Feel free to discuss associate compensation in London in the comments. This will constitute the open thread on London and the U.K. that some of you have been asking for. Thanks!
Update: This is kind of random, but click here for Google Maps directions from New York to London. We especially like step #21.
Further Update: A reader notes that if you get recruited by your firm’s New York office for a London position, you could do even better. More details after the jump.
Weil Gotshal ups NQ pay to £90k [TheLawyer.com]
Weil Gotshal Newly Qualified Lawyers Earning A Bundle More [LawFuel]
Universal Currency Converter [XE.com]


Here’s what one reader has to add:

Certain law firms (such as Clifford Chance, Cleary, Simpson Thacher, Shearman, but not limited to.) are looking for associates to join their foreign offices, and to encourage or lure law students to make the step (quite a big one too, since it is accross the big pond), they are offering interesting salary packages. The base salary is $ 160.000 (same as in NY, even though the position is abroad – the reason is that the persons are recruited by the NY office and are under NY payroll, even though they actually work in Paris, London or Rome, and never ever worked in the NY office), AND on top of the 160k salary, they get an “overseas compensation package” which is above $50.000 (the exact amount depends on the firm), which means that the TOTAL salary (before bonus) is well over $200.000, and yes, this is for entry-level, first year positions !

The only “catch” is that the persons need to be recruited by the New York office for the position abroad (which means that the NY office must have a need to hire sone U.S. lawyers to expand a foreign office), otherwise, if you are hired by the local office, you “only” get paid the local salary…

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“Only” the local salary of $180,000 to $190,000, as discussed above…. Oh the grinding poverty!
Update: / Correction: Another tipster advises that the “catch” doesn’t apply to U.K. firms who hire U.S. lawyers in London. These firms — e.g., Clifford Chance, Linklaters, Allen & Overy, Freshfields, etc. — will recruit American lawyers directly, and pay them on the U.S. scale (with a COLA thrown in for good measure).

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