Shearman & Sterling has hiked its newly qualified (NQ) salary rate in London from £88,000 to £95,0000 – a jump of 8%.

The US firm has announced salary increases for all of its UK junior, mid-level and senior associates.

Shearman operates a performance-based salary system, with salaries rising across all of the bands.

Junior associate salaries will run from £95,000 at the base level, while the starting salary for mid-level associates with three and a half years' post-qualification experience (PQE) has been raised to £126,000, from £115,000.

Senior associates with at least six and a half years' PQE have seen the starting salary for their band rising to £156,000, from £146,000.

All of the salary increases took effect from 1 May 2016.

The firm has also introduced an agile working policy for its London-based counsel and associates.

In a statement, the firm said that it has had "an informal remote working arrangement in place in its London office for a number of years" and that the formalising of the policy follows internal consultation with its staff.

The policy does not specify the number of days that associates and counsel can work remotely and lawyers must obtain authorisation from their line manager.

Nick Buckworth, London managing partner at Shearman, said: "In a recent internal survey, our staff clearly told us that having the ability to work flexibly was of increasing importance. We are pleased to have put in place new processes that enable our team to work in a more agile way and we have the full support of our partners to ensure this is a success."

Last year, Shearman & Sterling increased the salary rates for its first-year and second-year UK trainees. The salaries of first-year trainees rose 15.4%, from £39,000 to £45,000, and the salaries of second-year trainees increased 13.5%, from £44,000 to £50,000.