Society underpins trainee pay rates with living wage

Pay rates for trainee solicitors in Scotland are set to rise after the Law Society of Scotland agreed to raise its recommended and mandatory minimum rates.

The Law Society of Scotland's Council has agreed that, from April 2016, only trainee contracts that are at or above the living wage, as set by the Living Wage Foundation, will be accepted for registration. Since 2012 trainees have had to be paid at least the national minimum wage.

At a 35 hour week the new rate will give annual earnings of £15,015. Council was told that very few trainees are in fact paid less that this at present.

At the same time Council agreed that the recommended pay rates should rise by 3% from June 2016 to £17,545 for first year trainees and £21,012 for second year trainees.

The decisions follow over a year of research into trainee remuneration including a survey of 650 solicitors, students and trainees on the recommended rate. Over 70% of respondents supported moving the lowest salary the Society would accept to at least the living wage. 

Though it is often used as a benchmark for employers, the Society’s recommended rate is not compulsory, and it is for individual law firms or in-house employers to decide how much they pay trainees over the mandatory minimum pay rate.

Christine McLintock, President of the Society, said: "This decision means that future traineeship contracts will only be registered by the Society if payment is at or above the living wage recommended by the Living Wage Foundation. Pay rates for trainee solicitors are an issue of fundamental importance to the reputation of the profession. We have carefully considered the issues involved and agreed that it is vital to the wellbeing of trainee solicitors and to the long-term ability of the profession to attract talent to raise both the recommended and mandatory minimum pay rates.

“We need to strike the right balance when setting the recommended rate for trainee salaries. Trainees are the future of our profession and we want them to be paid properly for the work they do. However we know that while there has been an improvement in the economy, which has undoubtedly contributed to the increased number of traineeships on offer, employers continue to have to control their costs, including salaries.

"The reality is that today's law graduates have more choice than ever before in terms of what kind of career they want to pursue. Around half choose not to join the solicitors' profession and new roles, such as legal analyst positions, offer an alternative and attractive career path in law. We need to do what we can to ensure that we continue to attract high calibre individuals to the profession, which includes maintaining competitive pay rates."

She added: "It remains the case that some law firms simply cannot afford to afford to take on a trainee. It is a problem acutely felt in the legal aid sector where cuts to budgets and reduced rates of pay have left margins so tight that paying the recommended rate is often not feasible. For these firms the decision to take on a trainee is a difficult one and paying a salary below the recommended rate may be the only viable option.

“This underlines the need for us to continue to press, in the public interest, for an appropriately funded system of legal aid to help encourage new solicitors to enter this branch of the legal profession and to assist employers working in this area to offer employment opportunities.”