Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has frozen the salary bands for its junior lawyers after an annual pay review, it has emerged.

It is understood that trainees and associates have been informed of their new salaries as part of individual reward conversations.

Lawyers will continue to move up through the bands based on their performance and the majority are also expected to receive a bonus based on individual, practice and firmwide performance, as they did last year.

Freshfields became the highest-paying magic circle firm for associates last year after bumping up salary bands across the board.

But, as first reported by RollOnFriday, it will now keep these levels in place for the 2015-16 financial year. 

The firm operates a career milestone model as opposed to a traditional associate lockstep system, which allows greater flexibility for lawyers to have their pay increased based on merit. Its foundation level for newly qualified lawyers and those with one year's post-qualification experience (PQE) runs from £67,500 to £77,500.

Milestone one salaries, primarily for lawyers with two to four years' PQE, range from £87,500 to £100,000. Level two, which is normally for those with more than four years' experience, runs from £107,500 to £115,000, while the most senior associates with around six years' PQE can get packages ranging from £120,000 to £135,000.

Salaries for trainees at the firm have edged up, however. First-year trainees will now receive £41,000, up from £40,500, while second-year trainees will move to £46,000 from £45,500.

The other magic circle firms to have reported their associate salaries this year have all bumped up pay.

Linklaters gave the largest increases to two-year qualified lawyers, who saw their pay rise by 7% from £82,000 to £88,000.

Slaughter and May also gave its biggest salary increases to two years' PQE lawyers, who will now take home £87,000, 10% more than last year.

Clifford Chance hiked pay fairly evenly across the board, with both trainees and associates seeing salaries increases of nearly 5%.

Allen & Overy has yet to announce its pay grades.