Employed lawyers are becoming victims of their own success, according to a growing body of evidence that suggests rising status and soaring demand for in-house jobs from disenchanted City lawyers is keeping a tight lid on salaries.

A series of surveys this year have shown that salaries for in-house lawyers are static or even falling in the UK, despite the triple whammy of a reviving commercial market, a rising regulatory burden on companies and soaring private practice salaries.