Executive Director James Lavan has provided comment in The Telegraph on the growing pay gap between elite US and elite London-based law firms and the sacrifices required to progress up the salary bracket across the pond.
“It takes six years to become a lawyer, and you’re recruiting from such a limited pool of people offering specialist skills. American law firms are blowing UK law firms out of the water because the salaries they are offering are so high.
“However, these companies are asking for a huge trade. They are asking these people to do very intensive and difficult work. It’s common for newly qualified lawyers to work 14-hour days. You hear lawyers say all the time that they finished work at 2am and they had to go back in and start again at 9am.
“You are expected to make sacrifices in this line of work. The good pay is to compensate for the loss of work/life balance. The salary comes at a cost.”
James’ comments were published in The Telegraph, 18 June 2024.