Convergence is this week’s theme as the pay round winding through the City hits the mid-Atlantic firms that have in recent years been crucial players in London’s legal talent market. As exclusively revealed on legalweek.com on Tuesday (1 May), Shearman & Sterling, arguably still the most influential of the mid-Atlantics, has unveiled 4% rises, taking starting salaries for UK-qualified lawyers to £75,000.
While Shearman’s rises have to be viewed against the firm’s robust 20% hikes in 2006, this year’s lag with the 15%-plus rises handed out by magic circle rivals is only the latest sign that the once-massive transatlantic pay gap is fast narrowing. The picture will be clearer by the end of the week when the increasingly confident White & Case unveils its UK salaries. But whatever the result, current trends suggest the gap between US and UK firms that has been such a force in the City for a decade will soon disappear altogether. So much for the much-debated pay war.
