Most other Bay Street firms raise salaries, to different extents
On July 9, summer students at McCarthy Tétrault LLP received a pleasant surprise when they learned that the firm would now pay $1,900 per week for their articles, a raise from $1,450 per week. This is the first raise McCarthy’s, and most of Bay Street, has given students since 2007. Annualized, this represents a raise to $98,800 from $75,400.
However, in an effort to reach $1,900 per week, McCarthy’s reportedly cut the tuition bonus and the bar study stipend for articling students, worth about $8,000 in total. The difference between $1,900 and $1,700 a week for 44 weeks, the typical length of articling, is worth about $8,800. These benefits are typically offered at Bay Street law firms. A spokesperson for McCarthy’s did not respond to a request for comment.
Earlier last week Torys LLP, among other firms, had announced a raise to $1,700 per week, the equivalent of $88,400 per year. Georgia Brown, the Head of Legal Recruitment & Diversity at Torys LLP, in a statement to UV, said, “Torys LLP is proud of its record of compensating its students and associates at or above market, and expects to do so going forward.”
It is not clear what spurred the raises. Earlier this summer, Precedent Magazine published an article profiling student salary increases at Bennett Jones LLP and Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP. Chris McKenna, the Manager of Student Recruitment and Program at Bennett Jones, said the firm does not intend to raise student salaries at this time. A spokesperson for Davies did not respond to a request for comment.
Closing the gap to associate salaries?
Associate salaries at most Bay Street firms now start at $110,000, following a raise last summer from $100,000. It was the first raise since 2007 for associates.
The salary grid for most Bay Street firms is now:
- Articling: $88,400 ($1,700 per week annualized)
- First-year: $110,000
- Second-year: $130,000
- Third-year: $150,000
- Fourth-year: $170,000
- Fifth-year: $180,000
- Sixth-year: $200,000
(Note that differences in compensation, especially in bonuses—which can range from 0 to 30% or more, can differ among firms, and that differences can compound greatly with years of call.)
A real raise?
Adjusted for inflation, $1,450.00 in 2007 is worth $1,766.90 today, according to the Bank of Canada’s Consumer Price Index. Likewise, $100.00 in 2007 is worth $121.86 today.
Firms paying articling students $1,900 per week
McCarthy Tétrault LLP
Firms paying articling students $1,850 per week
Bennett Jones LLP
Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP
Firms paying articling students $1,800 per week
Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP
Firms paying articling students $1,700 per week
Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP
Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP
Dentons Canada LLP
Goodmans LLP
Gowling WLG (Canada) LLP
Hicks Morley Hamilton Stewart Storie LLP
Lenczner Slaght Royce Smith Griffin LLP
McMillan LLP
Miller Thomson LLP
Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP
Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP
Paliare Roland Rosenberg Rothstein LLP
Rae Christen Jeffries LLP
Singleton Urquhart Reynolds Vogel LLP
Stikeman Elliott LLP
Torys LLP
Wildeboer Dellelce LLP
This story is developing and we will update this article if and when firms announce raises. Did your firm recently raise student salaries? Email us at [email protected].
July 10, 2019 correction: a previous version of this article misstated the annualized articling student salary in the salary grid. It is $88,400, not $74,800. ($74,800 is the pro-rated pay articling students can expect to receive over 44 weeks, the typical length of articling).
This piece was last updated on July 29, 2019. This piece will no longer be updated. Please see
https://ultravires.ca/2019/07/davies-raises-articling-pay-to-2250/.
