McDermott Will & Emery is increasing its trainee salaries, matching the top of the market figures announced recently by Davis Polk & Wardwell.
Davis Polk recently raised the bar for London trainee salaries, announcing that first years would pick up £65,000 and second years receiving a salary of £70,000.
McDermott Will & Emery is matching these levels, increasing pay from the previous rates of £53,000 and £58,300. It brings in three trainees in the City annually.
In addition to its uplifting of trainee compensation rates, McDermott will double its maintenance grants, moving from £10,000 to £20,000. These changes will take effect from 1 January 2025.
McDermott’s London managing partner Aymen Mahmoud, who joined from Willkie Farr & Gallagher in 2020, said: “Given the direction of growth, it isn’t unreasonable to imagine that our historic number of trainees will increase as time goes on.”
These new levels exceed trainee rates offered by the magic circle firms, which had long been top of the pile.
Trainee salaries at the magic circle for first years are £56,000 followed by £61,000 in the second year.
The last year has been a year of growth for McDermott, which named former Fried Frank partner Graham White has the senior partner of its London office, along with Mahmoud as its new managing partner.
Since then, McDermott has hired private equity partner Fatema Orjela from Sidley Austin, Candice Nichol from KPMG’s tax practice and finance partner Chris Kandel from Morrison Foerster.
