Jun 11, 2026 · 34 min · 11 segments
Send us Fan Mail It is an uncertain time for those wanting a career in the law. Doom-mongers would have you think that AI is about to lead to a mass cull in junior lawyer roles around the world…
Abena AmpofoPanelist
Richard SimmonsPanelistChristian, let's start first of all, uh, with the good news for junior associates, which were there are a whole bunch of salary rises.
The first swallow of summer, uh, came along, uh, with Milbank and McDermott last week upping their salaries for their, uh, for their associates across the board.
Um, expected as ever, I suppose, but always, always something that is astounding, uh, that put them up by $20,000.
And then in the UK, uh, Quinn Emanuel also upped their, uh, their junior salary num- uh, junior salary amounts, and they put their NQ salary rate up to £189,000, uh, top of the market.
And I think that probably will be very much the start of, of many other firms following suit.
But it isn't just all about salary rises because, uh, although that is fantastic news for newly qualifieds and junior associates, and that probably makes them feel a little bit happier about their future within, within the law firm model and the way it's currently structured.
So this week, our Matt Byrne, our director of insight, reported that Latham & Watkins has ramped up its summer associate class by a considerable margin this year.
Now, this is not the sign of a firm that has said, "Right, we're gonna deploy the robots, and we're gonna absolutely slash junior places at all." So the whole narrative of a great big job tsunami, uh, is not quite happening in the upper tiers of big law at all.
Christian, let's start first of all, uh, with the good news for junior associates, which were there are a whole bunch of salary rises.
The first swallow of summer, uh, came along, uh, with Milbank and McDermott last week upping their salaries for their, uh, for their associates across the board.
Um, expected as ever, I suppose, but always, always something that is astounding, uh, that put them up by $20,000.
And then in the UK, uh, Quinn Emanuel also upped their, uh, their junior salary num- uh, junior salary amounts, and they put their NQ salary rate up to £189,000, uh, top of the market.
And I think that probably will be very much the start of, of many other firms following suit.
But it isn't just all about salary rises because, uh, although that is fantastic news for newly qualifieds and junior associates, and that probably makes them feel a little bit happier about their future within, within the law firm model and the way it's currently structured.
So this week, our Matt Byrne, our director of insight, reported that Latham & Watkins has ramped up its summer associate class by a considerable margin this year.
Now, this is not the sign of a firm that has said, "Right, we're gonna deploy the robots, and we're gonna absolutely slash junior places at all." So the whole narrative of a great big job tsunami, uh, is not quite happening in the upper tiers of big law at all.
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