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HFW bumps NQ solicitor pay to £103.5k

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By Lydia Fontes on

14

3.5% rise sees firm join summer salary scramble


International law firm HFW has announced an increase in salaries for its newly qualified (NQ) solicitors, effective immediately.

The shipping specialists confirmed rates for its most junior lawyers will move from £100,000 to £103,500, a nice little bump of 3.5%. The Legal Cheek Firms Most List shows that HFW recruits 18 trainees across its UK offices each year.

The boost comes after City firm Bird & Bird moved its NQ rates from £98,000 to £102,000 on Monday and puts HFW’s pay figures back ahead of TwoBirds (just!).

HFW NQs will now also be out-earning their peers at other firms in the £100k club such as Dentons and Stephenson Harwood, falling just short of their counterparts at Pinsent Masons and BCLP (both on £105,000).

This is the latest of a whole host of summer salary hikes for NQs at HSF Kramer (up to £145k), Eversheds Sutherland (up to £110k), Ashurst (up to £140k), DLA Piper (up to £130k) and more — HFW’s latest move making it clear that the junior lawyer pay war is still very much on.

The 2025 Legal Cheek Firms Most List

14 Comments

Ex-SH Lateral

SH are too focused on useless initiatives, rather than incentivising staff lol. Not expecting much from them. Everything is going down at that firm.

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(8)(9)

Rupert of the USA 🇺🇸 💵

Chicken feed, dear boy/girl/other.

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(2)(3)

A broke mf

I wonder who will be next? Reed Smith?

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(5)(6)

Ouch

So after tax (assuming Plan 2 student loans and 5% pension contribution) its…. (checks notes)…. £134.34 a month, yikes

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(14)(8)

Put a plaster on it..

“So after tax (assuming Plan 2 student loans and 5% pension contribution) its…. (checks notes)…. £134.34 a month, yikes”

You are forgetting that you are with your basic salary, already in the top 2% privileged strata of the NQ salary elites. 5% pension going into your pension pot each month is worth thousands and will be compounded to the heavens by the time you retire. Your Plan 2 student loan being paid off on a 100k salary will be cleared in a shorter time than your course took to do at university.

On your figures, a net of £1,500 over the year – means you get What Lambo? subscription covered for free for another year whilst you marvel at your pre-existing £100,000+ salary for being an NQ with a few months of low level experience in your field… not to mention most will have other perks, huge performance bonus schemes, and top of the range benefits.

Are you feeling over qualified for what you are doing? Feeling underpaid for what you do at this level? Is it really that bad?

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(18)(6)

Shocking

Charles Russell are a disgrace with their 88k joke of a salary.

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(2)(14)

turbocopter

Then move firms you goon lmao

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(26)(8)

Pleasant surprises

3.5% for a city firm would usually be derisable compared to what is expected in this pay war – it’s a rate that you expect provincial firms to offer.

But.

It’s actually good to see that they aren’t increasing pay by 5 figures every year like everyone else. HFW could be leading a new trend, which would be a very welcome change. The point is, when the existing salary for the role is already 100k, even a 3.5% increase is quite significant.. which is sometimes forgotten.

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(24)(25)

X

Worth noting that £100k to £103.5k is almost exactly in line with CPI inflation and therefore not even a real terms pay increase.

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(19)(11)

Anon

It’s far worse given 60% tax trap.

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(0)(9)

Staying grounded in reality

Will excuse me!

These are ultra high level salaries which are well above the UK average in all sectors, well above the average UK NQ salary and bloody high compared to many executive and seasoned professional roles.

No offence but if your NQ pay is already £100k, it’s bloody cheeky talking about expecting RPI or CPI Payrises – your existing remuneration means you are earning well in excess of the minimum, the average, and the majority.

This is solely a problem for the 0.1% of NQ lawyers. Cry us all a river.

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(30)(16)

Clyde & Co NQ

I’m on 80K

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(9)(11)

Lool

What cheap skates – what difference is that lol

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(2)(7)

£100k+ Club Associate

HFW knows its niche, shipping only, not chasing US firm salaries. They’ve edged past SH and WFW, just behind Pinsents and Eversheds. It’s a smart move to keep retention without widening junior-to-mid pay gaps. Curious if other firms around the £100k mark will match. At the end of the day, money talks.

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(4)(6)

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