Addleshaw’s Pay Freeze
Ben Thomson, LawFuel contributing editor
Addleshaw Goddard decided to turn up the chill factor on its own junior lawyers as the UK-based firm has frozen the £100,000 starting salaries for newly qualified (NQ) lawyers, choosing instead to divert an extra £1 million into its already-healthy bonus pool for senior lawyers.
So much for “investing in talent,” as so many law firms like to boast. The news, first reported by The Times, is part of a broader compensation shuffle that has the unmistakable scent of pyramid maintenance. One tier feasts. The base holds.
Looking at Addleshaw’s figures we see frozen NQ salaries and a growing bonus pool.
In isolation, these numbers suggest a healthy business for Addleshaws, but the decision to leave NQs behind while lining the pockets of senior partners raises eyebrows, and possibly blood pressures, among the younger ranks.
And don’t think this is a one-off strategy. As Legal Cheek noted, other firms are watching closely. Freezing junior pay is fast becoming a quiet tactic to buffer against AI spending, inflated real estate costs, and the relentless demand from equity partners to keep the Porsche fund alive.
Pay Freeze ≠ Talent Retention Strategy
Let’s call it what it is: a cost-containment measure that risks long-term damage. With NQ salaries at rival firms like Freshfields and Clifford Chance still floating around the £125,000+ mark, Addleshaw now runs the risk of bleeding its top junior talent to better-paying rivals.
It’s not just about prestige anymore—cash talks, especially when Gen Z associates have rent, law school debt, and Deliveroo subscriptions to manage.
Law students and early-career lawyers are already venting online, noting that “loyalty” doesn’t seem to run both ways.
The Great Compression Problem
A quiet storm is also brewing on what’s known in HR-speak as “salary compression”—where NQs earn nearly as much as second- or third-year associates. The freeze may alleviate that temporarily, but it also locks the firm into an awkward holding pattern.
It means that NQs can’t move up without disrupting the whole pay ladder.
And senior lawyers can’t be kept happy without a fat bonus pool to be dipped into.
You can’t afford to do both—unless you’re prepared to cut costs elsewhere. (Spoiler: it won’t be at the partnership table.)
Strategic Shift or Short-Term Grab?
The firm has said this is about “supporting and recognising senior talent” who helped drive the growth—but there’s a wider trend here playing out too.
As Financial Times recently pointed out, firms are under pressure to rebalance costs amid slower M&A, reduced billing recovery, and rising GenAI expenses.
And firms are using bonus and sign-on deals in the competitive lateral recruitment market to remain competitive – which requires big money kept for talent signings.
Partner profits must be protected. But if the junior associates keeping the ship afloat start to jump overboard, you’ve got a talent leak problem occurring.
The Law Firm Message
When partner profits are up and junior salaries are frozen, it’s not a “strategic decision” – it’s a message for associates.
Addleshaw’s move may make short-term sense. But when NQs look across the street and see Kirkland throwing six-figure bonuses around like party favours, they’ll start wondering why they’re still stuck warming the bench.
