Here's a follow-up to last week's post about associate salaries in London. It sounded some pessimistic notes, but maybe the pessimism was unwarranted. From Legal Week:

Shearman & Sterling has announced an increase of 7 percent in its London associate salaries, putting the firm's rates well ahead of those at top U.K. firms. The rises mean a newly qualified solicitor based at the firm's London office will get paid 80,000 pounds ($157,976), up from a figure of 75,000 pounds last year. Senior associates will receive salary increases on a discretionary basis, with the base salary level moving up to 170,000 pounds ($335,699) a year.

Trainee solicitors will also get a bump-up from the review, with first-years now pocketing 39,000 pounds ($77,013) -- up from 36,500 pounds -- and second-years in line for 41,500 pounds ($81,950). The increases will make them among the highest-earning trainees in London.

Remember, however, that these figures are for U.K.-qualified lawyers. As one commenter noted, U.S. lawyers working in London, whether for U.S. firms or Magic Circle firms, generally do better. For more discussion, see here.

Linklaters has followed suit:

In response to Shearman's move, Linklaters announced raises of nearly 4 percent for junior lawyers, in what will be seen as a confident move from the U.K. giant. A newly-qualified solicitor (NQ) at the Magic Circle law firm is now set to earn 66,600 pounds ($131,500), up from 64,000 pounds ($126,300) in 2007.

Finally, in other U.K. news, the London office of O'Melveny & Myers is in "disarray" and "turmoil," according to The Lawyer (via the ABA Journal). That publication reports that "underinvestment by the firm's Los Angeles (LA) hub [has] prompted the exit of a fifth of its partners and a generation of senior associates." We dropped OMM a line to see if they had any comment, but they didn't get back to us.

Update: More here from Legal Week, which reports that O'Melveny is "is in talks to bring its remuneration structure for London partners into line with the rest of the firm."

Shearman leads London associate salary hike, Linklaters follows [Legal Week]
O'Melveny in disarray as UK dream goes sour [TheLawyer.com]
O’Melveny’s London Office is ‘In Turmoil,’ Legal Publication Says [ABA Journal]

Earlier: London to... £75K Be Happy You Have A Job!