Law graduates from UK’s top universities can expect six-figure salaries after ten years

Graduates in law from the top ranking UK universities can expect to see six-figure salaries within 10 years according to new figures.

The data, collected by salary benchmarking site Emolument.com, looked at the salaries of 396 legal professionals in the UK.

It found that law graduates from the top universities benefited from an early career pay premium of about 25 per cent more than graduates of other universities.

Cambridge University graduates earn £99,000 on average after five to ten years in practice.

Graduates of the London School of Economics saw an average of £94,000 followed by those from the University of Edinburgh (pictured) who in the same period earned on average £93,000.

In fourth places was the University of Oxford, whose graduates saw a mean income of over £92,000 per year.

The average starting salary for lawyers leveled out over their first five years came to £54,000, increasing to £76,000 after a decade and then to £100,000 after 15 years.

Following 15 years’ experience, salaries rose substantially to an average of £181,000.

This pattern contrasts with those of asset management, banking and consultancy, where an earlier pay spike mid -career is common the site said.

Thomas Drewry, chief executive officer at Emolument said: “Not only do lawyers commit to long years of studying but it appears they do not reap the financial rewards early in their careers either.

“With long hours and intense pressure, it is definitely a career for the committed.”

The averages hide significant variations in salaries, with the number of lawyers seeing incomes of at least £1 million increasing to over a thousand last year following an upsurge in City deals.

At some of the Magic Circle law firms, senior partners made about £2 million while some American law firms gave their top lawyers in London over £3 million for work on major corporate deals, according to Legal Business.

This contrasts with junior barristers taking criminal legal aid cases who say their incomes have plummeted as a result of deep cuts to the legal aid budget.

The Law Society of England and Wales said the average salary for a legal aid lawyer in that jurisdiction was about £25,000 a year.

Law is the second most lucrative career for students, behind investment banking. In third place is the oil and gas sector and in fourth management consultancy.