Several of London’s major firms, including Norton Rose, Herbert Smith and Simmons & Simmons, set the starting rate at £55,000, a 10 per cent increase on 2005.

One top firm, Linklaters, has increased its trainee salaries to at least £30,000 ($72,400).

Simon Firth, Linklaters’ trainee development partner, told Legal Week magazine: “The market has been picking up and all firms are chasing quality people. If you are competing in that market, you cannot be that far from the rest.”

Linklaters is also giving lawyers with four or more years’ experience a 12 per cent pay rise, bringing their salaries to at least £88,600 ($213,850) before bonuses.

Another firm, Lovells, has increased its bonus package, giving all associates the opportunity to gain a bonus of up to 30 per cent of their salary, up from 20 per cent.

Ruth Grant, managing partner for Lovells’ London, said: “These things tend to go in cycles. The market has been quiet in recent years with salaries not increasing much. That has now shifted, so these rises reflect that.”

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