More than a third of trainee solicitors are being paid below the recommended minimum salary, according to research published today. According to the figures, 37% of solicitors outside of London are paid below the £18,547 threshold set out by the Law Society.
In London, trainees faired slightly better but 25% are still being paid below Chancery Lane’s recommended London minimum wage of £20,913.
The figures were revealed after around 500 trainees answered the 2017 Salary and Benefits Benchmarker survey by legal recruiter Douglas Scott.
The figure is up on 12 months ago when 31% of trainees overall took home less than the recommended amount. Trainees in the North of England faired worst with one in two being paid below the minimum threshold.
Douglas Scott’s research also revealed that despite generally being contracted to a 37.5-hour working week, the average working week is closer to 40 hours with 13% of trainees working more than 48 hours a week.
Further, 5% of all trainees are being paid the minimum wage or under compared with 2% a year ago.
Kathryn Riley, managing director at Douglas Scott, said: ‘At entry level the competition for talent comes not just from rival law firms but other service sectors. The legal profession is still a great place to be but stagnating trainee salaries have the potential to damage that perception.’
Trainee solicitors underpaid and overworked, research finds
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