Salaries for newly qualified (NQ) solicitors at top 200 firms continued to climb in 2025, averaging £118,000, with London firms paying almost 40% more than those outside the capital. 

With large pay packets comes long hours, but it is a trade-off that new research finds most are prepared to make. 

It also showed how female trainees are more likely to be attracted to certain practice areas such as real estate and employment and the greater struggles of neurodivergent trainees. 

The findings have been published in an annual report on UK trainee satisfaction, published by Chambers, the leading legal rankings and insights intelligence company. It surveyed 1,076 trainees working at 95 top 200 law firms in the UK as well as collecting data on NQ salaries at those firms. 

The London average salary for newly qualifieds was £124,000 whilst Manchester salaries were second highest at £68,000 followed by £66,000 in Birmingham. Belfast had the lowest rates of pay at £39,000. 

US firms remained some of the highest payers at £168,000 but the Magic Circle are closing the gap at £150,000. National firms paid £94,000 on average. 

The salaries trainees can expect to earn on qualification correlate strongly with the hours they are required to work – while trainees in national and regional firms work an average of 38 hours per week, that rises to 49 hours at US firms and 50 in the Magic Circle. London trainees work 16% more hours than those working in the regions. 

Trainees are spending less time working from home, with the average number of mandated days in the office climbing from three in 2024 to four in 2025. 

Trade-offs around pay and hours worked appear to be accepted by the majority of trainees, who were satisfied with their working hours - only 9% said they were too high. Magic Circle trainees were the outliers here, with 21% saying their hours were too long compared to only 12% at US firms. 

Trainees across the board demonstrated high levels of happiness. Those working at Magic Circle firms, however, were more likely to find stress levels hard to manage and those from ethnic minorities were more likely to see themselves moving firm in the future – only 48% planned to stay for more than five years compared to 61% of White trainees. 

Trainees were majority female (64%) but women were underrepresented in seats such as banking & finance and corporate/M&A (both 51% female) and overrepresented in real estate (70%) and employment (79%). 

Of the trainees interviewed, 11% reported being neurodivergent. These trainees were more likely to be drawn to technical areas of the law such as intellectual property, technology, transport and competition and less likely to be happy in more generalist areas like corporate and litigation. 

Partnership was considered a realistic aspiration at their current firm for 66% of trainees but this dropped to 47% for those who were neurodivergent, demonstrating firms need to do more to support neurodivergent employees. 

Law graduates make up 65% of trainees, with the majority of non-law graduates studying history or politics. At US and Magic Circle firms, almost a quarter of trainees attended Oxford or Cambridge and over 60% went to Russell Group universities. Representation from other types of university was better at national and regional firms where 40% attended a non-Russell Group university. 

Cait Evans, global talent head of research at Chambers and Partners, says: “Trainees at the UK’s top firms show high levels of satisfaction across the board and while hours can be long, the vast majority appear to recognise that the increasingly high salaries on qualification, particularly for those based in London and at US and Magic Circle firms, come at a price.  

“With significant variation across the country and by firm type, there are clearly choices to be made for aspiring lawyers who should carefully weigh up the lifestyle they want to lead and against the rewards on offer. 

“Looking more closely at trainee preferences, we found that practice areas such as real estate and employment were much more likely to be attractive to women, while neurodivergent trainees felt more comfortable in more technical areas of the law. Trainees’ early decisions will likely have an impact on the make up of law firms in the years to come so are factors they will need to consider when planning long term.  

“Those who are neurodiverse and from an ethnic minority background are, the results suggest, looking to their employers to accommodate difference and to provide a more inclusive and supportive culture. This data gives an insight into where firms should be directing their efforts to support trainees as well as providing aspiring lawyers with the information they need to choose the best firms for them.” 

To read the full report, visit: Chambers UK Trainee Satisfaction Annual Report https://crm.chambers.com/l/854103/2025-09-26/kf3f9/854103/1758886688Tyi11H9s/Chambers_Student_E_guide_2026.pdf

 ENDS

For further information, please contact:

Louise Eckersley, Black Letter Communications on 0203 567 1208 or email: 

[email protected] 

Lucy Gardner, Black Letter Communications 

[email protected] / + 44 (0) 203 567 1208, 07525 756 599 

Chambers surveyed 1,076 trainees working at 77 top 200 law firms in the UK as well as collecting data on NQ salaries at those firms. Data was collected from January - July 2025.

Chambers is a leading global legal rankings and insights intelligence company.  

For over 30 years, Chambers has differentiated the very best legal talent by identifying and ranking law firms and lawyers, through an unrivalled research methodology, delivering indispensable insights based on irrefutable rankings that truly reflect ability and talent.  

Chambers’ in-depth research teams assess lawyers and law firms across more than 200 jurisdictions around the world, providing independent and impartial intelligence and market insight. Its rankings and insights enable decision makers, from in house counsel at global blue-chip firms, through to local influencers, to secure the talent that’s right for them.