Slaughter and May

Salary

7.3 / 10
90 reviews
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2012 Reviews

  • People of my level are increasingly attracted by the higher rewards at US law firms.

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  • Pay is okay, but behind comparable firms (particularly for intermediate to senior associates who are performing well).

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  • It's not the highest in the City - but it's more than adequate. Given current inflation rates, there has been a significant real wage decrease for trainees over the past 5 years. However, I enjoy the work I do and am thankful I have an income!

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  • The pay is quite good, but trainee salaries haven't risen for at least three years now. Given the high rate of inflation over that period, real salaries have fallen a lot. This would be fine, but associate salaries have risen during this period even though, you would assume, they should be better placed to weather higher living costs.

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  • Trainee bonuses are very small, especially after tax.

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  • The bonus is applied equally across all fee-earners, which is nice if you've had a quiet run as your colleagues have earned it for you. If you've been insanely busy, it's somewhat frustrating. I suppose they take the view that everybody will have experience of both in the course of the year so it evens out. In practice, however, since the crisis, that has not been the case as far as I can see. Pay is average for City law at an MC firm.

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  • Firm-wide bonus is very welcome and removes silly competition about who can stay longest in the office.

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  • Feeling that pay is low for the hours, experience and quality of work - incentivisation at this stage is the partnership carrot or the feeling that you couldn't be getting better work to develop as a solicitor anywhere else.

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  • Not competitive but generally deemed to be "market rate" for Magic Circle. Far behind the US firms.

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  • I am very satisfied with my pay and bonus - though they have not increased at my level in a few years this is more of an industry and economy wide complaint than being specific to the firm.

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  • Pay frozen for the last few years but comparable to the other Magic Circle firms.

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  • It's average for Magic Circle so better than non-Magic Circle and worse than US. Frustrating that everyone gets the same bonus and no way to increase your own as you could at somewhere like Clifford Chance

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  • Pay is good, and not to be sniffed at. It is somewhat lower than the top of (what should be considered) the market, particularly for high billing associates receiving good reviews. Indeed it is considerably lower than the pay of some competitor firms, when bonuses are taken into account. This is disheartening, and can be frustrating at busy times.

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  • Excellent. I have a clear idea of how much I'm getting paid and how much I shall get paid on qualification.

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  • Pay is exceptionally high in this sector for relatively junior lawyers. However, it is frustrating occasionally to look at how much higher salaries are at American firms for the same amount of work (and, often, less responsibility), especially in light of the partners' famously huge earnings.

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  • Increasingly tight on pay. Not keeping up with closest competitors in terms of both base salary and bonuses. Lack of transparency on pay damages associate morale.

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  • It's not as high as some firms and London is an expensive place to live, but I think it is commensurate with the responsibility and the hours I experience.

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  • The bonus system is very fair. As far as I am aware, everyone receives the same percentage of salary as a bonus. The percentage is determined by the partners once the year's financials have been reviewed. I feel that this creates a very collegiate atmosphere within the firm.

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2011 Reviews

  • £61,500

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  • Salaries here are competitive for trainees. The associate salary bands are on the low side given the firm's revenues, the complexity of the work and the hours which associates frequently work. This is presumably seen as a trade-off for excellent brand name and a slightly reduced partnership track.

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  • Given the profitability of the firm, the remuneration could be a little more competitive. Many non-Magic Circle firms have better salary structures.

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  • The trainees' salaries are competitive. We also get a bonus which is a percentage of your salary, no matter how many hours of work you put in. This is very good as most firms do not give bonuses to trainees, and the ones that do base it on working time.

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  • The amount of money we get paid for two years of education is pretty good, although they do take the proverbial pound of flesh!

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  • It's very good, especially considering the economic climate and the cuts experienced in other firms.

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  • Pay is excellent and an 8 per cent bonus was paid to all fee earners.

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  • Trainee salaries are pretty much market rate but we get bonuses, which is better than other firms.

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  • Trainee pay is fair and pretty comparable to other firms. Bonuses haven't been great of late – unsurprisingly perhaps!

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  • The pay is behind where it should be considering the hours worked and the remuneration offered by the firm's competitors.

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  • We get paid less than other Magic Circle firms I think, but that's largely because of the bonus. And I would trade no billing targets for a bonus any day!

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  • I am happy with my salary – it is a lot of money to earn at the beginning of my career. However, I am aware that a lot of other firms of a similar size/reputation do pay a lot more. On the whole, paying everyone the same % of their salary as a bonus is fair, but it can feel frustrating if you have recently been working particularly long hours.

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  • There is a sense that we are not quite competitive with the other Magic Circle law firms (and clearly a million miles from the American firms). Considering we charge premium rates, and the standard expected of us is so high, this is a bit disappointing.

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  • Bonuses are the same % of salary for all legal staff and salaries are banded but the basis upon which staff are differentiated between bands is not clear.

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  • I think we need a larger bonus. It seems possible to get 20% at other firms reasonably easily whereas here it is a set rate across the firm with no way to increase it, which is somewhat demotivating. Base salary looks a lot but once you are married/having children it doesn't go very far (particularly living in/near London). We also seem to get paid slightly less than contemporaries at other comparable firms, which is frustrating. Particularly frustrating when you see PEP on the rise but I guess that is the business model.

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  • Doesn’t match the US firms so we've lost a number of people to them (work the same hours for double our pay!). We don’t have much visibility on how they calculate the bonus! It's given as a percentage of your salary which is the same % across the firm. The % varies according to the profits of the firm that year (presumably!).

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2010 Reviews

  • Slaughters pays the market rate for Magic Circle lawyers. Like at other firms, pay has been frozen over the last year but hopefully that will change soon. The bonus is discretionary and everyone receives the same amount (as a percentage of their salary) if one is paid.

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  • Bonuses are discretionary and are paid at the same % of salary rate across the board so far as I know. Pay has been frozen on the last two occasions that there would otherwise have been a round of increases.

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  • …Pay seems about right but it would be good for pay rises to be un-frozen. London house prices are the real issue because otherwise would seem pretty well off.

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  • The pension is very generous here.

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  • More than enough to live comfortably on.

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  • No longer happy with the pay freeze, which was reasonable for a period. Salary in need of moderate increase to bring into line with the market.

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