Big Law Pay News Sees Freshfields’ Fresh Look

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, one of the UK’s Magic Circle heavyweights, is thinking about bringing back a salaried partner tier, placing some partners on a fixed, hefty salary instead of a share of the firm’s profits. It’s a big deal, especially since Freshfields had moved away from this model before and now seems ready to give it another go.

The timing is interesting. Freshfields recently hiked its newly qualified (NQ) lawyer salaries in London to £150,000, which is a record for the Magic Circle.

That’s great news for junior lawyers, but it puts a lot of pressure on the firm’s profit pool. After all, if you’re paying out more to associates, there’s less left for partners wiothout finding a new way to balance the books.

That’s where the salaried partner tier comes in, as a halfway house to equity partnership: you get the title and the prestige, but not a slice of the annual profits.

For the firm, it means they can reward and retain top talent without diluting the equity pool. For ambitious lawyers, it’s a clear step up-more responsibility, more recognition, but not quite the full risk (or reward) of equity partnership.

If you want a deeper dive into how law firm partnerships work, LawCareers.Net has a great explainer on the different models out there8.

This move isn’t just about money, though. The legal market is changing fast. Associates are climbing the pay ladder quickly, and the old-school lockstep model-where everyone gets paid more just for sticking around-isn’t always keeping up with the times.

Some firms are even looking at floating on the stock market or bringing in private equity to shake things up. It’s all about flexibility and staying competitive, especially when US law firms are dangling huge pay packets to lure away top UK talent.

For Freshfields, reintroducing a salaried partner tier could be a smart way to keep its best people happy, manage costs, and stay ahead of the curve.