Quinn Emanuel has boosted pay by 5% across the board for its London associates, in a move that sees it beat the new market-leading salary scale announced by Milbank earlier this week.
As of 1 July 2026, newly-qualified associates in Quinn's London office will receive salaries of £189k, up from £180k, while those with seven years’ PQE will earn as much as £373k at the top end of the scale.
The increases are the first for the litigation heavyweight in London since mid-2024. On Thursday, the firm said its US associates would receive salary hikes to match the increases announced by Milbank earlier this week, which take pay to $235k for first-year associates and up to $455k for eighth-year associates.
GLP understands the raises extend to Milbank's UK associates. McDermott Will & Schulte matched the raises shortly after, also for its US and UK associates.
Quinn's UK rises, however, mean that the scale for London associates will be at a higher level than Milbank's at current exchange rates at every comparable level, particularly those at the mid-level.
"We maintain our own salary scale in this marketplace and pay people in pounds sterling, but our aim is to retain the top litigation talent in London," said Quinn Emanuel’s London senior partner, Richard East. "We have increased our salaries across the board to ensure that we remain at or above the top of the market."
Now that Quinn has defined how the pay increases will impact its London associates, it would not be surprising to see other members of the £180k NQ club follow suit, said Ria Karnik, managing director in the associate practice group at Major Lindsey & Africa. Those firms include Paul Weiss, Gibson Dunn, Davis Polk and Willkie Farr, according to Legal Cheek.
“This move will also up the ante on the [UK] Magic Circle," Karnik added. "Eyes will begin to fall on the increasingly glaring pay discrepancy at this level, which sits around £40k. If this does prompt a fresh NQ pay war, we could expect movement across the whole market."
She added it was important to consider the impact a market-wide NQ pay war could have on more senior associates in UK firms.
"As pay rises from below, those in mid-level associate and senior associate roles could easily be troubled by the numbers they are seeing," she said. "No firm wants a resentful middle tier, but they may get one. UK mid-level and senior associates taking on greater management, mentoring and business development responsibilities are beginning to question narrowing pay differentials, and a further NQ salary increase could result in a further exodus of mid-to-senior level associates from UK firms into US firms.”
Among UK firms, the top payers remain the Magic Circle, where starting salaries for newly qualified lawyers are £150k. Linklaters upped its pay scale in May 2024, following quickly in Freshfields’ footsteps. Clifford Chance, A&O Shearman and Slaughter and May soon matched these rates.
Earlier this week, it emerged that Mishcon de Reya is set to introduce a bonus scheme that will enable exceptional performers to earn up to 30% more than their base salary. Mishcon's salary for newly-qualified associates currently stands at £100k.
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