Pay rises: City law firm Pogust Goodhead looks set to offer its junior lawyers pay packets worth up to £3m over three years
Junior lawyers at a City law firm could be in line to earn as much as £2million each over three years under a deal that highlights the spiralling pay packets on offer to high-flyers in the sector.
The move from Pogust Goodhead aims to bring the lawyers’ rewards in line with ‘hedge funds or investment banks’, according to chief executive Tom Goodhead.
It ups the ante to offer ever more lucrative terms to legal talent in the Square Mile.
Some US firms already pay starting salaries of up to £180,000 – putting pressure on Britain’s so-called ‘magic circle’ law firms.
Last October the firm received a £450million investment from US fund manager Gramercy to back its class actions on behalf of individuals against big companies such as mining giant BHP and car maker Mercedes.
The firm is creating a £200million bonus pool on a so-called ‘synthetic equity’ model – similar to a shares-based bonus scheme – the Times reported.
Goodhead said his firm’s staff were ‘doing more socially valuable work than lawyers at other law firms, and I see no issue in ensuring they are paid on a par with people that invest in us’.
He added: ‘The potential of doing this type of work means that the incentives will be much higher than they can be in the “magic-circle” law firms. It is something we are doing to shake up the market.’
He told The Lawyer magazine he saw partners at the firm earning between £10million and £20million, while newly qualified lawyers could receive between £1million and £2million.
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