Law firm boosts newly qualified lawyer rates for 2024 – Scottish Business News

SHOOSMITHS has increased its salaries for newly qualified (NQ) lawyers, upping pay by 8% (from £90,000 to £97,000) in London and by 5% regionally in England to £63,000. In Scotland and Belfast, the firm also raised its NQ rates to £57,000 and £37,500 respectively. The increases in base salaries, effective from November as part of the firm’s pay review, reflect applicable market dynamics and Shoosmiths’ desire to attract the best of the next generation of lawyers. 

Salary increases are just one of the ways Shoosmiths demonstrates its commitment to supporting and nurturing its junior talent. 

Chair Kirsten Hewson said: “At Shoosmiths, we’re known for being a great place to work, with bright, engaged, high-performing teams that deliver excellence for our clients. Cultivating that positive environment starts with ensuring our junior colleagues thrive and excel. We are very pleased to offer a salary increase as a part of our holistic approach to developing our lawyers, affirming our dedication to training aspiring solicitors in a culture that’s supportive and ambitious.”

Shoosmiths has received numerous accolades for its training, most recently winning “Best Law Firm for Peer Support” in the Legal Cheek Awards 2024 and being named one of the “Best 100 Student Employers” by RateMyPlacement 2024.

In September, the firm will welcome the first cohort of its Solicitor Apprenticeships programme, a vocation-based training scheme that offers an alternative route into the legal profession, which will see four individuals qualify as solicitors over a six-year period. Solicitor Apprenticeships will launch in the Birmingham office, with plans to expand the programme to the firm’s other core offices in subsequent years. In Scotland, Shoosmiths has offices in Edinburgh and Glasgow.

As a forward-looking firm, Shoosmiths also looks for ways to incorporate the skills lawyers will need to be successful in the future into its training. The firm is redesigning its solicitor training programme to include ongoing instruction in generative AI, legal tech, and innovation. Shoosmiths was the first law firm to actively encourage graduates to use generative AI tools in their trainee applications and is one of the FT’s most innovative law firms in Europe. The firm is also a member of City Century, an award-winning solicitor apprenticeship initiative that develops talent, connecting them to the City of London.

Shoosmiths’ strategic ambition is to become a leading upper-mid-market law firm, excelling in its chosen markets, by 2030.