Does anyone mind telling me what a new fixed-share partner in a City law firm earns?

[AmongTheNarcissi]

Not really AIBU (although maybe a bit unreasonable to ask friends and relations...)

I am a senior associate in a mid-tier City firm. 7 years PQE, IP specialism. Currently earn £102 000. Pay for associates in my firm is generally thought to be on the low side. I am going through the partner selection process at the moment and am hopeful of being offered fixed-share partnership soon. At which point I will have to negotiate my renumeration package from what I feel is a position of weakness as I have no idea of the norm. I have no good friends who are partners yet and can't ask colleagues (or at least they can't tell me). Online salary surveys are hopelessly vague.

If anyone is able to share their experiences of salary negotiation and what a reasonable sum might be, I would be very grateful!

wandymum I am in the city but have been approached for jobs in West End firms starting on 120k in my field.

Lots of firms call salaried partners fixed share partners to get them out of PAYE system. Share is then expressed to be something tiny (say 0.5%) with the caveat that they will however receive a minimum annual payment. Gets you off PAYE and into self-employment regime.

I think you have to keep in mind the longer term. Your earning potential as an associate will stagnate, the only way to keep going up is partnership.

As others have said though I wouldn't expect the salary to be negotiable. I think you're supposed to clean your senior partner's shoes with your tears of gratitude whatever you're offered.

Thanks littleredsquirrel I'll look forward to that!

Oh we've had loads of posters flashing their cash around on Mumsnet lately. I find it quite tiresome too. Also, I hate it that people park everything in aibu, but I do have a long history of whingeing and moaning about that.

Ladies, salary is always negotiable. Particularly if you are underpaid relative to your male colleagues, or because you came in from a provincial firm or branch.

With partnership, the money you're 'required' to put into the partnership is often an accountancy sleight of hand, so it's unlikely you will be poorer though mis-reading your first earnings statement may lead you to think so.

I wouldn't quite agree with Squirrel that it's always up or out, because firms like the Mummy Track too. Experienced, loyal and cheap, who could ask for more? .

Thesaurus - tell me more about the Mummy Track. I think I might be on it.... MC firm.

Why "tiresome", Minty?

MN is a vast cross-section of society; the OP has had 86 replies and at least a dozen of those are clearly very well-informed about her situation.

I'd say she did the right thing by posting here for advice and what's more, an awful lot of the daughters of low earning mums still at school will learn something too. The City and the professions are not closed shops and demystifying them helps everyone.

HandMini How many kids and how old?

It's not the done thing to do well in this country OP, did you not get the memo? It's ok to be on the minimum wage and make sure you're getting what you're entitled to but anything above that and you're just not playing the game

This is a very interesting thread, reminds me to try to see someone about that LPC I've been meaning to find out about.

In that case, if you get the chance to negotiate it, I'd start at 144k tell them you've been offered 120k in the west end where you would have a considerably easier life and so you think an uplift of 20% on that is fair given extra demands they'll place on you.

I would double check whether they actually expext it to be a negotiation though. Definitely wouldn't be the done thing here. So much so it woyld probably be taken as a sign you aren't the right type of person for partnership in the first place (ridiculous I know).

Easter, I probably wasn't clear! DH's friend is equity partner and the £300k includes bonuses.

God I'm so on the mummy track (sobs). Interesting to see what people are earning though (much more than me) but I think that's my chosen field rather than anything else even if I do geographically work in the city.

I can see I'm going to have to run classes on salary negotiation .

You don't negotiate remuneration during the interview or the selection process. You "have a coffee" with your sponsor in this case. If you're moving, you ask your headhunter to do it for you. if you are ready to play dirty, you go flirting elsewhere and then you put a case together.

By the time of the final interviews it's too late.

Used to work in private practice - rumours were junior partners on about 120k so other posters sound about right.

Will PM you ThesaurusGirl. Thanks for the info - I think I get so busy with work that I forget to ocassionally survey the wider scene and re-evaluate where I'm sitting in the legal market.

The Mummy Track is not a permanent state if you don't want it to be. When your kids are all at school full-time and you are free to travel or do all-nighters now and then, you'll be fine.

The big problem with the Mummy Track is that it suits people well and the daddies want to be on it too. Except the mummies guard their jobs fiercely, so the daddies come to us and ask us to find them in-house roles and then they realise how much they pay and how few of those roles there are .

Happy to respond to PMs but should say that I don't personally place legal eagles. But I do know a man who does...

Thanks Thesaurus. What are do you place in? You certainly know a lot about the legal market.

PM me, I give away a lot of private stuff on here and would rather not be identified.

Good luck OP with the negotiations. Can I be cheeky and ask that you let us know what the final offer is. Will help to make opaque pay scales clearer.

takingthemickey I will let you all know what I haggle- judging from the advice this afternoon it will be somewhere between a bag of beans and enough for a super yacht!

Sorry op - was putting kids to bed before starting night shift. I negotiated bonus. Salary was fixed but I expected to be bringing in over target so got bonus pegged to that. I think iy is worth pointing out that 400k is not the billing target for the year - it is the amount of new business a junior partner is expected to bring in. I'd be expected to achieve total billings around £1m per annum.

Interesting, Thesaurusgirl but I'm still not sure you are right.

If you are in one of the firms at the top end of the scale for equity partner earnings it is all about that, rather than what you get in the couple of years you are salaried, and they know it.

We all get calls from headhunters, higher offers from elsewhere once we get to that level of our career anyway and firms know that too but when you are talking about partnership you don't look at it that narrowly.

Salaried/fixed share partnership is the stepping stone to equity and that is when the real money kicks in and you get to negotiate based on how you've done while you were salaried.