Lawyers in private practice in New Zealand received either a more than 10% salary bump or nothing at all within the last calendar year.
That’s according to the
New Zealand Law Society & Hays Legal Salary Guide 2016, which found that when members of the Society were asked, 32% said they received a salary increase of more than 10% followed by 27% who said they received nil in the last calendar year.
The survey also found that 13% of lawyers in private practice saw an increase from 1% to 3% while 12% saw an increase from 4% to 6% in their pays. Of all the respondents, 16% received a pay bump of 7% to 10%.
This was better than their counterparts in in-house legal departments where most (48%) received a pay raise from 1% to 3%. Among in-house lawyers, 29% received no pay raise, 10% received 4% to 6% in raises, 8% received more than 10% while 5% received from 7% to 10% in raises.
Asked whether they expect base salary to increase this calendar year and by how much, private practice lawyers either expected an increase of nil (25%) or an increase of more than 10% (23%). Twenty percent expect from 7% to 10%, 17% expect from 4% to 6% and 15% expect from 1% to 3%.
On the in-house side, most expected a raise of 1% to 3% (55%) followed by nil (28%) and from 4% to 6% (11%). Those expecting a raise of 7% to more than 10% made up 6% of the respondents.
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