To ask if I’m underpaid as a solicitor?

[Ramshackl]

I’ve been off twice on maternity leave since 2019. I’m 8 years qualified and on 62k outside London but in large UK city. My pay has gone up 2% each year the last four years. Im told by my large ish company that for commercial work this is well within the right bracket. It’s awkward asking friends about salaries from other firms but I feel this is really poorly paid? Am I deluded? Should I just ask my colleagues what they’re on? Is it because I’ve been on maternity leave twice?

You will never earn more by staying at one firm for years and years. My experience is you need to move to get anywhere near market rate.

I was really struck by the % increase over the last few years - 2% compared to inflation of approaching 10%.
How does pay progression work where you are? Is is based on PQE and goes up every year, or is it more opaque? Also, can you give us a rough idea of the size of the firm and how many partners. It seems low, but I'm in house and in London so can't really compare.
Only way to find out is to start applying for other things. I agree with others this is always the best way of trying to increase your salary.

I worked at one firm for 5 years and got a pay rise of about £1500. I left recently.

It feels quite low to me. We are based in the Midlands and pay around 100k for in house roles for fully qualified with maybe one previous role as experience.

Potential to increase to 200k+ as we’re in a heavily regulated niche industry where relevant industry experience is highly valued.

I know in my industry if I advertised a role under 90k I’d be lucky to get a single applicant.

This would be very high paid in Northern Ireland

This.

I’m in a similar professional services role and regularly test the market with recruiters or speaking to other firms with vacancies. Plus there is a myriad of published commentary on salary.

There’s not enough info in your post for others to comment meaningfully.

There are lots of industries that pay more and pay less. There is a huge difference between areas of law. The payscale of a completely different industry won't help the OP at all.

I just saw this role advertised, which made me think of this post. I doubt you'd need 8 years PQE for it:

www.nationwide-jobs.co.uk/jobs/r00aor03314-legal-counsel/?sType=LinkedIn