Weil Gotshal & Manges has raised its salary bands for City associates, with newly-qualified (NQ) London lawyers at the US firm set to receive £97,000 from September this year.

The move marks an increase of 8% on last year, when NQs were paid £90,000, and a 14% increase from two years ago, when NQ salaries stood at £85,000.

The US firm has also significantly raised pay rates for its more experienced associates, with one-year qualified lawyers set to receive £100,000, up from last year's rate of between £90,000 and £95,950.

Two years post-qualified associates will receive between £103,000 and £112,000, while a top-earning associate at eight years' experience has the potential to earn up to £176,000.

Weil remains one of the most generous law firms in the City, offering its NQ lawyers over £30,000 more than the current benchmark rate for top London firms.

The most recent US firm to significantly increase its associate pay bands was Shearman & Sterling, which in May upped pay levels in its three-tier merit-based pay system by as much as 15%.

The news came a year after Shearman ditched its associate lockstep across its UK, Asia and Middle East offices in favour of the merit-based system.