GoldsteinCity TMT specialist Olswang has swept aside its assistant ‘lockstep’ – becoming the first major London firm to ditch the traditional UK model of annual salary bands for junior lawyers.

The radical move, implemented from 1 May, has handed Olswang’s management near total freedom to set assistant pay rather than tying the firm to fixed rates based on seniority. Newly qualified salaries for 2001-02 have been fixed at £46,000.