How to max out your salary in 10 years

Young legal professionals twice as nimble when maxing out salaries in the first 10 years of their careers

Ambitious young Solicitors and legal professionals are making up to four job moves in the first ten years of their legal careers without fear of damaging their personal brand. And although law firms have fought back in the battle to retain talent, but they are just unable to keep hold of these upwardly mobile lawyers. 

According to research we carried when producing our 2018 Salary and Benefits Benchmarker legal professionals are staying in their roles for about 4 years and 1 month which is up slightly on the 3 years and 10 months in 2017. However, stickiness drops to 3 years and 4 months for lawyers with less than 10 years’ experience and then to 3 years if they have 5 years or less, making them twice as nimble as colleagues with over 10 years PQE who will stay in roles for an average 6 years and 2 months.

Employers have reacted by almost doubling pay rises awarded to lawyers in the first ten years of their careers from an average 7% in 2017 to 13% in 2018. Hirers have also proved bullish with average pay rises secured on a legal job move in the same period rising from 18% in 2017 to 25% in 2018. The net result is that hirers have extended the overall gap from 11% to 12% between 2017 and 2018.

The biggest changes have occurred at 2 to 5 years PQE level. Law firms have increased pay rises awarded to current employees from 6% to 16% with hirers pushing up offers from 21% to 28%. The net result is a bridging of the chasm that existed in 2017 whilst raising the stakes for those firms in the market for talent.

Year on year progression is identified as the dominant career move motivator by our Salary Survey respondents but whatever the motivation 71 per cent of legal professionals secured a pay rise on a move compared to 50% of our respondents who received one in their current role. Diving deeper into the data we can reveal that the average salary increase secured by lawyers on a job move was £9,250 compared to the £4,900 pay rise awarded to lawyers who achieved a promotion with their current employer.

Clearly pay and development come hand in hand when influencing job changes. To achieve this desired career advancement, professionals should be receptive to the idea of tactically plotting their career moves in these crucial years. Douglas Scott are multi-award winning legal recruitment experts, however big or small your plans, we’re here to help you achieve them.

Contact any one of our 4 UK based offices and we will point you in the right direction or have a look at the latest legal roles our team are currently working on.