Are these the toughest working weeks in the City? How trainee lawyers on £170K are routinely at their desks for 70 hours and barely see daylight - with investment bankers in the office for between 60 and 80 hours
When it comes to tough City working hours, its generally acknowledged that lawyers and investment bankers lead the pack.
When it comes to tough City working hours, its generally acknowledged that lawyers and investment bankers lead the pack.
Trainee lawyers are routinely at their desks for 70 hours a week and rarely see daylight, according to a survey. But before you shed a tear, bear in mind they enjoy starting salaries of more than £170,000 a year.
Trainee investment bankers have a similarly punishing regime, with between 60 and 80 hours a week considered typical. But, perhaps surprisingly, their pay is generally lower - with Glassdoor putting the average pay for entry-level analysts at £84,000.
One City banker said working hours for juniors varied greatly depending on whether they are working on a deal.
I would say the average is between 14 and 16 hours but it really depends if theyre working on a deal or not, they told MailOnline. They could be working for 18 hours a day on a deal or 12 if not.
This graphic shows working hours and salaries for trainee lawyers at American and British firms. The third column shows average working hours for investment bankers of all ranks, while the salaries are for entry-level analysts and do not include bonuses
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. However, they receive an astonishing £180,000 from the day they qualified.
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.
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.
While a list of average working hours for junior investment bankers was not available, average weekly working hours for investment bankers at various levels of seniority were obtained by the website efinancialcareers.
Once again, American institutions lead the pack, with investment bankers at Citi working 68 hours a week, followed by 68 for Bank of America, 67 for HSBC, 64 for UBS, and 63 for Barclays and Deutsche Bank.
An investment banker consulted by MailOnline estimated that the working hours for juniors could be around 30 per cent longer than the figures above.
Base salaries for analysts range from around £60,000 for HSBC to £71,504 and £76,700 for Citi and Barclays consecutively, according to data from job websites including Glassdoor and Indeed.
Although these salaries will be boosted by bonuses, they still suggest junior investment bankers are often paid significantly less than junior lawyers.
This is particularly true for those working in the London offices of US firms like Gibson Dunn and Paul Weiss, who are paid £180,000 from the day they qualified.
The top legal firms are increasing salaries for newly qualified lawyers to insane levels, bosses have said
JPMorgan recently capped junior bankers working time at 80 hours a week. Pictured is its CEO, Jamie Dimon
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.
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.
More focus has been paid to the issue of long hours following the death of an American banker after he had been working around the clock to close a deal.
Leo Lukenas, a former Green Beret, was only one year into his investment banking job when he tragically died after developing a blood clot
Leo Lukenas III, a former Green Beret, died suddenly in May at the age of 35.
Typical Wall Street practices see senior workers offloading work to junior workers, something which JP Morgan boss Jamie Dimon has said he intends to cut back on.
He said: A lot of investment bankers, theyve been traveling all week, they come home and they give you four assignments, and youve got to work all weekend.
Its just not right. Youre violating it. Youve got to stop, and it will be in your bonus, so that people know we actually mean it.
Mr Lukenas had been working in New York City, where hours are typically longer than London.
