Law Society increases its recommended minimum salary for trainee solicitors
updated on 28 March 2018
The Law Society has increased the minimum salary that it recommends solicitors’ firms pay their trainees, although the figure is only a guideline that firms are free to ignore.
It used to be compulsory for firms to pay their trainees at least a minimum salary, but the Solicitors Regulation Authority abolished this requirement in 2014, meaning that firms can pay their trainees as little as the National Minimum Wage if they want to.
The revised recommendation is that trainees in London are paid a minimum of £21,561, while those outside London should receive no less than £19,122, a 3% rise that reflects inflation. The new rate comes into effect (a debatable term, we admit) on 1 May 2018.
