Pay rates for young lawyers have hit an all-time high, with US-based law firms once again leading the charge.

Davis Polk, based in New York, has increased the year 2 pay rate to £60,000 (USD76,000), an increase of £5,000 or 9 per cent.

This beats US rivals such as Kirkland & Ellis, Sullivan & Cromwell, Jones Day and others.

And the pay for year 1 lawyers is also up. UK law blog LegalCheek reports that Davis Polk's year one lawyers are now pulling £55,000, an increase of £5,000 or 10 per cent over the previous year.

Once again, this increases the distance between Davis Polk's pay rates and those of the other US-based firms (as above), although none of them pay exactly poorly.

However, as the blog notes, there is also a note of caution that should be added to this 'good news'. The rates are obviously highly sought after and not available to everyone.

"(Davis Polk) . . sends its London rookies to its New York office for up to six months during their training — recruits just four trainees annually. Upon qualification, Davis Polks freshly minted lawyers see their salaries double overnight to £120,000."

The average pay rates for London lawyers is £57,500.

In July 2018, the average salary for Lawyer jobs in London rose by £358 or ten per cent.

And so tread with caution. And note that despite our article image, top women graduates are still also scoring top jobs notwithstanding the brash young men appearing therein. In fact, we've added the image here for those top professional women seeking top law jobs, because they too are in demand. Women step forward!

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