New research from the 39th annual Hays Salary Guide ddelivers a blow for in-house counsel as it reveals that the majority, some 65 per cent, of employers expect to increase their in-house legal staff’s pay by no more than 3 per cent in their next review. Worse still was the fact that the recruitment company found that 11 per cent said they will not increase salaries at all. Almost one fifth – 19 per cent - said they will increase salaries for in-house teams from 3 per cent to 6 per cent and just 5 per cent said they will increase salaries by more than 6 per cent.

Firms feel a little more generous than corporate peers

However, firms are feeling just a little more generous than their corporate peers, with 7 per cent expecting to give salary bumps of more than 6 per cent. Yet, 57 per cent also said they will increase staff salary by no more than 3 per cent. The report found that 26 per cent plan to raise salaries by no more than 6 per cent while another 10 per cent said they will not increase salaries at all.

IT and telecoms sector counsels can expect the most

The luckiest among all in-house legal professionals are those working in the information technology and telecommunications sector as 20 per cent of companies surveyed said that they expected to increase salaries by 6 per cent or more.