Your Options
Whilst some of the US firms have had a tough time over the last year with many freezing recruitment and/or letting some of their lawyers go, generally the prognosis remains good for US firms in London. Many have been in this country for 30 years and it is clear that they are here to stay. Some are looking to develop into full service practices to rival, both in terms of quality and quantity, the work and lawyers of the top 20 UK practices. Others are concentrating on their core practice areas, usually corporate finance and banking, where they may be world leaders looking to entice the top lawyers away from the largest UK practices by offering significant salary packages and the prospect of the highest quality of work within a very meritocratic and non-beaurocratic environment. While not all US firms offer New York salary rates, they will tend to pay more than the leading UK practices with salaries ranging £50-90K on qualification with the potential to earn substantial bonuses on top of these sums.
At first there was some resistance to the US firms and UK qualified lawyers were sceptical that in order to sustain such salaries the environment would be comparable to that of a sweatshop. However, most US law firms today have overcome this perception and as more and more UK lawyers join such firms some of the myths have been dispelled. While clearly not right for some lawyers, the diversity of the US practices in London, the quality of the work and the quality of the remuneration should provide ambitious UK lawyers with real food for thought.
