Law firms Linklaters and Clifford Chance are reducing the pay of newly qualified solicitors to deal with the financial constraints of the Covid-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic.
Linklaters is reducing its salaries for newly qualified solicitors by £10,000, with starting salaries now set at £90,000 per annum instead of £100,000. However, to compensate, employees will be eligible for a discretionary performance related bonus.
Clifford Chance is reducing the salary for its newly qualified solicitors by £5,500. Newly qualified solicitors will now receive a starting salary of £94,500 compared to the annual salary of £100,000 in previous years. Employees will also see a reduction in the calculation of its bonuses. This is in addition to the bonus payments and pay rises that the organisation is delaying until November 2020, but were originally scheduled to be paid out in April 2020.
Linklaters and Clifford Chance are not the only two law firms taking cost-cutting measures, Clyde and Co announced it had reduced the pay for newly qualified and trainee solicitors earlier this month.
A spokesperson at Linklaters said: “Effective from September, our newly qualified lawyers will receive a salary of £90,000 per annum, plus a discretionary performance-related bonus.”