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Pay rises: City law firm Pogust Goodhead looks set to offer its junior lawyers pay packages worth up to £3m over three years
Young lawyers at a City law firm could earn up to £2m each over three years under a deal that highlights the rising pay packages on offer to the sector’s high-flyers.
Pogust Goodhead’s move aims to align lawyers’ rewards with those of “hedge funds or investment banks,” according to CEO Tom Goodhead.
The ante is being raised to offer increasingly lucrative terms to legal talent on the Square Mile.
Some US firms already pay starting salaries of up to £180,000, putting pressure on law firms in Britain’s so-called “magic circle”.
Last October, the company received a £450m investment from US fund manager Gramercy to back its class action claims on behalf of individuals against large companies such as mining giant BHP and carmaker Mercedes.
The company is setting up a £200m bonus fund under a so-called ‘synthetic capital’ model, similar to an equity-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 problem in ensuring they are paid on par with the people who invest in us.”
He added: ‘The potential to do this type of work means that the incentives will be much greater than they may be in the “magic circle” law firms. “It’s something we’re doing to shake up the market.”
He told The Lawyer magazine he saw the firm’s partners earning between £10m and £20m, while newly qualified lawyers could receive between £1m and £2m.