Guide
Law firm salary guide 2026
By Ben Holtom, founder of Sourcefully. Updated .
The short answer
Across England and Wales in 2026, legal support roles mostly pay £23,500 to £38,000 outside London, around UK medians of £26,000 for legal secretaries and £28,000 for paralegals. Newly qualified solicitors outside London typically earn £34,000 to £64,000 depending on practice area and region, and £51,000 to £83,000 in London.
These are benchmarks for law firms across England and Wales, not City pay scales. Solicitor bands come from LawBoard salary benchmarking, which models mid-size firm pay by region. Support bands are typical ranges for regional firms from placements and live adverts, checked against ONS earnings data. Use them as a starting point; the work behind a job title matters more than the title itself.
Legal support salaries
| Role | Regional firms 2026 | What moves pay |
|---|---|---|
| Legal receptionist | £23,500 to £27,000 | Reception plus file opening, ID checks and diary work push towards the top |
| Legal secretary | £24,000 to £33,000 | Practice area, number of fee earners supported and document complexity |
| Conveyancing assistant | £23,500 to £30,000 | Running your own files moves the role into paralegal pay |
| Paralegal | £24,500 to £38,000+ | Practice area first, then file ownership and billing |
| Legal cashier | £28,000 to £38,000 | Scale of client account and SRA Accounts Rules responsibility |
| National reference point | Figure |
|---|---|
| UK median, legal secretary (ONS ASHE) | around £26,000 |
| UK median, paralegal (ONS ASHE) | around £28,000 |
| London average, legal secretary (Indeed, July 2026) | £36,363 |
Legal secretaries
| Level | Regional firms |
|---|---|
| Junior, up to 2 years | £24,000 to £27,000 |
| Mid-level, conveyancing, private client, family or litigation | £27,000 to £30,500 |
| Senior or specialist, supporting several fee earners | £30,000 to £33,000 |
In many regional markets there is a ceiling of around £30,000 for non-fee-earning secretaries. Past that, firms expect billing, file ownership or direct client work. A legal secretary role in one firm can be worth £3,000 to £4,000 more than another with the same title, because the workload and autonomy differ.
Paralegals
| Level | Regional firms |
|---|---|
| Junior, under 2 years | £24,500 to £27,000 |
| Mid-level, 2 to 4 years | £27,000 to £34,000 |
| Senior or specialist, 4+ years with file ownership | £32,000 to £38,000+ |
- Commercial property and corporate: £30,000 to £38,000 for experienced paralegals doing drafting and due diligence.
- Litigation: £30,000 to £35,000 in busier teams, more where experience is hard to replace.
- Private client: £25,000 at entry level to £33,000 or more with probate and estates experience.
- Family: £25,000 to £31,000, depending on direct client contact.
- Residential conveyancing: £24,000 to £27,000 junior, £28,000 to £34,000 when running your own files.
Conveyancing assistants
| Level | Regional firms |
|---|---|
| Entry level, under 1 year | £23,500 to £24,500 |
| Early career, 1 to 3 years | £25,000 to £27,000 |
| Experienced, 3 to 5 years | £27,000 to £30,000 |
| Senior, supervisory or fee-earning | £29,000 to £38,000 |
Solicitor salaries by practice area
The range outside London runs from the lowest-paying region (usually the North East and Wales) to the highest (usually the South East). Each practice area links to its hiring guide, which has the full table for all ten regions.
| Practice area | NQ outside London | 4 to 5 PQE outside London | NQ London | 4 to 5 PQE London |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Corporate and commercial | £39,000 to £64,000 | £52,000 to £86,000 | £57,000 to £83,000 | £76,000 to £112,000 |
| Employment | £37,000 to £61,000 | £49,000 to £82,000 | £55,000 to £79,000 | £73,000 to £107,000 |
| Private client (mid-size firms) | £37,000 to £61,000 | £49,000 to £82,000 | £55,000 to £79,000 | £73,000 to £107,000 |
| Residential property | £35,000 to £58,000 | £47,000 to £78,000 | £52,000 to £76,000 | £69,000 to £102,000 |
| Family | £34,000 to £57,000 | £45,000 to £76,000 | £51,000 to £73,000 | £67,000 to £99,000 |
Bands are from LawBoard salary benchmarking, which models mid-size firm pay across regulated firms in England and Wales. Many high street private client teams pay below the mid-size model; the private client guide shows a separate high street ladder.
What this means if you are hiring
- Advertising below the range is the most common reason a role stalls. A legal secretary role advertised at £25,000 to £27,000 in a regional city now attracts few experienced applicants.
- Watch for salary compression. New starters can now join on close to what your loyal, experienced support staff earn, and they notice.
- Price the work, not the title. If the role carries billing or file ownership, the market will expect paralegal or fee earner pay.
- Senior fee earners rarely apply to adverts. At 4+ PQE you are usually hiring someone who is not actively looking.
What it costs to recruit these roles
Compared with a typical agency fee of 20% of first-year salary, Sourcefully's flat fees are set by salary band. Fees are plus VAT.
| Role | Salary | Agency at 20% | Sourcefully flat fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Legal secretary | £28,000 | £5,600 | £3,000 |
| Experienced paralegal | £32,000 | £6,400 | £4,000 |
| Family solicitor, 4 to 5 PQE | £60,000 | £12,000 | £7,500 |
For the full comparison of contingency, retained, fixed-fee and embedded recruitment, read how much legal recruitment costs in the UK. For salaries, costs and screening advice by role, see the hiring guides.
Free PDF
Get every regional salary table in one PDF
Solicitor pay for five practice areas across all ten regions, plus legal support roles and what each costs to recruit. Four pages, ready to print for your next salary review or hiring meeting.
Frequently asked questions
What does a paralegal earn in 2026?
The UK median is around £28,000. In regional firms outside London, junior paralegals typically earn £24,500 to £27,000, mid-level paralegals £27,000 to £34,000, and senior or specialist paralegals with their own files £32,000 to £38,000 or more. London pays roughly a quarter more. Commercial property and corporate paralegals earn the most, residential conveyancing the least at junior level.
What does a legal secretary earn in 2026?
The UK median is around £26,000. In regional firms outside London, most legal secretary roles pay £24,000 to £33,000, and London averages around £36,000. Juniors start around £24,000 to £27,000 and senior secretaries supporting several fee earners reach £33,000 outside London.
What does a newly qualified solicitor earn outside London?
It depends on practice area and region. Outside London, NQ bands run from around £34,000 to £57,000 in family to £39,000 to £64,000 in corporate and commercial. The South East, North West and Yorkshire pay towards the top of each band, the North East and Wales towards the bottom.
Why are solicitor salary ranges so wide?
Two solicitors at the same PQE can be paid more than £20,000 apart depending on firm size, billing targets, the mix of legal aid and private work, and how much of the caseload is complex. The title alone tells you little; the work behind it sets the salary.
Are these figures for City firms?
No. Solicitor bands model mid-size firms across England and Wales, including London, but not City, US or international firm pay scales. Support bands are typical ranges for regional firms outside London, with national medians and London shown for reference.
About the author
Ben Holtom, founder of Sourcefully
Ben has 15 years in recruitment, including internal recruitment at Reed and The Edwin Group. He founded RecQuest, a South Coast legal recruitment business, in 2025 and partnered with 45 law firms, making nearly a placement a week. He now runs Sourcefully, offering law firms embedded recruitment and fixed-fee hiring.