Sullivan & Cromwell tops the 2027 newly qualified (NQ) solicitor pay table at £181,000, as the competition for junior lawyer talent across the UK's largest firms shows no sign of easing. Legal Cheek's latest Firms Most List research, covering 113 of the UK's top law firms, puts Davis Polk, Gibson Dunn, Paul, Weiss and Willkie within £1,000 of the leader, each paying London NQs £180,000.

US firms continue to dominate the upper reaches of the table. A sizeable group now offers London NQs upwards of £170,000, including Simpson Thacher & Bartlett at £178,000 and a £175,000 band comprising Goodwin, King & Spalding, Kirkland & Ellis, Milbank, Sidley Austin and White & Case. Latham & Watkins, Vinson & Elkins and Debevoise & Plimpton sit just below at roughly £173,000.

UK-headquartered firms move

Among elite UK-headquartered firms, Macfarlanes has raised NQ pay by £10,000 to £150,000, matching the Magic Circle. Clifford Chance, Freshfields, Linklaters and Slaughter and May have all held at £150,000 since autumn 2024, as have A&O Shearman, Baker McKenzie and Mayer Brown.

BCLP has added £10,000 to reach £125,000. Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer and the newly merged Ashurst Perkins Coie both sit at £145,000, level with Hogan Lovells Cadwalader. DLA Piper and Norton Rose Fulbright pay £140,000.

Firms with sizeable UK regional networks have also lifted their London rates. Eversheds Sutherland added £10,000 to reach £120,000. Pinsent Masons increased pay to £109,000 and Gowling WLG to £108,000. The table reflects London salaries; regional rates are typically lower.

The £10,000 club

No fewer than 11 firms increased NQ pay by £10,000 this year: Willkie, Orrick, Macfarlanes, DLA Piper, Katten, Reed Smith, Simmons & Simmons, BCLP, Eversheds Sutherland, K&L Gates and Mishcon de Reya. That spread — spanning US firms, City outfits and national networks — indicates the battle for junior talent is being fought across the market, not only at the top end.

Other sizeable moves include Dentons, up £8,500 to £112,500; Cleary Gottlieb, up £8,000 to £172,500; and Fieldfisher, up £7,000 to £102,000.

Overall, average NQ pay now stands at roughly £118,000. Of the firms surveyed, 48 increased salaries since 2026 and 46 held steady. Six-figure London NQ salaries have become commonplace: 63 firms on the list now pay at least £100,000.

The wider picture

For all the discussion of artificial intelligence reshaping junior legal work, the salary market has not yet reflected it. Firms continue to pay handsomely to secure top young talent.

At the other end of the table, Moore Barlow pays £48,500, Express Solicitors £40,300, and Leigh Day £52,000. Penningtons Manches Cooper reports a variable figure, while DAC Beachcroft, DWF, Greenberg Traurig, Russell-Cooke and Shakespeare Martineau declined to disclose. Two firms — Akin and Morrison Foerster — pay London-based NQs $225,000, converted by Legal Cheek to £167,000 at the 1 August 2026 exchange rate.

Practical consequences for practitioners

For recruitment partners and compensation committees, the data confirms a widening two-tier market. A £31,000 gap now separates the Magic Circle benchmark of £150,000 from the US elite at £180,000-plus, and UK-headquartered firms seeking to retain associates face continued pressure to close it — as Macfarlanes' £10,000 rise illustrates. Mid-market and regional firms, meanwhile, must compete against a market where six-figure London NQ pay is now standard at more than half of the top 113 firms. Junior lawyers weighing offers should note that headline figures are London rates and that regional pay typically runs lower.