Londons trainee lawyers are being asked to regularly work 70-hour weeks by US firms to justify starting salaries of more than £170,000, a survey has confirmed.
Research conducted by the website Legal Cheek found that American firms dominated the table on working hours among younger lawyers in the Square Mile, taking the first eleven places.
Young solicitors working for firms such as Weil, Gotshal and Manges reported that they worked on average 67.5 hours over the normal five-day working week.
Whilst working as juniors, employees at the New York-based company are also often required to work for at least part of the weekend, taking their six-day average to more than 70 hours.
Researchers found that many junior lawyers at these demanding firms routinely finished their days after 10.30pm, with one junior solicitor claiming he hadnt seen sunlight in three months.
The top legal firms are increasing salaries for newly qualified lawyers to insane levels, bosses have said
Trainees at US firms are famously required to produce higher billing targets then their UK counterparts - recording at least 2,000 billable hours a year, while those at the top English firms are normally required to do about 1,800.
Linklaters was the highest ranking English firm for average working hours, with trainees reporting that they logged more than 60 hours on average, with about 57 hours in the five-day week.
Junior lawyers working at the London offices of Gibson Dunn and Paul Weiss — based in Los Angeles and New York, respectively - are paid £180,000 from the day they qualified.
In the magic circle, the elite group of five domestic City law firms including Linklaters, newly qualified solicitors can expect to be paid £30,000 less than this.
But pay for the most junior ranks at these top UK legal firms has jumped 50 per cent over the last five years, as competition with US firms has grown fierce.
Quinn Emanuel has hiked its base salary for newly qualified workers by 18 per cent – which could be as much as £8,900 a month after tax
It usually takes at least six years to qualify as a solicitor in Britain if they study law at university.
This means someone as young as 26 working at either of the firms could now be earning £40,000 more than the Prime Minister.
Junior lawyers at Freshfields, Linklaters arch rival, reportedly turn in 56.5 hours a week over five days, also taking their six-day average to more than 60 hours.
Those training at Slaughter and May, widely perceived to be the highest earning of the five magic circle firms, worked the shortest weeks - earning slightly more than 51 hours on average over five days.
Outside of this group, the highly respected City firm Trowers and Hamlins reported a five-day working week of only 46 hours, still way above the 36.6 hours average across the UK.
When asked what the toughest part of the job was, one of the junior solicitors told researchers: The always available culture — youre expected to answer calls at ungodly hours or on days off — but hey, thats what they pay you for.