A trio of firms – CMS, DLA Piper and Ashurst – have raised pay for their newly qualified lawyers, signalling the continued importance of junior lawyers in the battle for talent. 

CMS has upped its London NQ salary to £120k, DLA Piper to £130k and Ashurst to £140k. 

CMS’s rise from £110k came into effect this month and puts it on a par with Simmons & Simmons and Travers Smith, according to figures published by Legal Cheek. The firm has also handed out pay rises to its NQs in Bristol to £76,500 (from £70k); in Manchester, Sheffield and Liverpool to £68k (from £62k); and in Scotland to £68k (from £60k).

Meanwhile DLA Piper’s boost to £130k represents an 18% year-on-year increase for its London NQs. Effective 1 September 2025, it coincides with the firm upping NQ pay to £82k across its other UK offices in Birmingham, Manchester, Sheffield, Leeds, Liverpool and Edinburgh, representing a 9.3% increase. 

Andrew Dyson, DLA Piper’s UK country managing partner, commented: “We are making a significant investment into our people in the UK, recognising the importance of the UK legal market as a focus for growth within our international strategy. We’re delighted to enhance the rewards to newly qualifying solicitors at a level that reflects the high performance of our firm in the UK.”

Ashurst was paying its London NQs £125k, but as of 1 May the increase to £140k saw it equal Macfarlanes and among the UK firms sit behind only the Magic Circle, all of which increased their NQ pay to £150k over the course of last year. 

Despite the pay rises, the Magic Circle firms are nowhere near the top of the London market, which is dominated by Big Law firms that benefit from being anchored in the lucrative US market. Quinn Emanuel and Gibson Dunn are at the top of the pile with an eye-watering £180k rate, with Paul Weiss, which is launching a new UK training contract, set to pay the inaugural cohort the same amount upon qualification.

Those firms are followed by an elite group of US outfits that pay £175k or more. Sullivan & Cromwell pays its NQs £177k, while Goodwin, Sidley Austin and White & Case have all recently increased their rates to £175k.