Taylor Wessing has handed out an £8,000 raise to its newly qualified lawyers (NQs), taking their yearly pay to £71,000.

The 13% increase comes alongside the firm's decision to hold trainee salaries at £40,000 for first-year trainees and £44,000 for second-year trainees. The pay changes came into effect last month.

Graduate recruitment partners Kirstie McGuigan and Matthew Royle said: "We've received such positive feedback this year on our trainee development programme, and recognition through a number of awards for the experience and support we provide. Our trainee 'class of 2016′ is one of our latest success stories.

"They've all made a significant contribution to the growth we have celebrated in recent years and this increase reflects that. We're also really pleased that so many of them are staying with us."

Some 91% of the firm's most recent trainee intake were offered a position to stay on at the firm as of July 2018.

The salary increases come after the firm posted a record revenue high of £301.5m in the  2017-18 financial year. The 12% increase in global revenues saw the firm pass the £300m mark, in what managing partner Tim Eyles (pictured) described as its "best year yet".

Last month, Herbert Smith Freehills confirmed it was overhauling its UK associate pay scale, moving to distance itself from experience as the basis of remuneration in preference for more merit-linked pay.

The Anglo-Australian firm has introduced 'career milestones', dividing its associate rank into three bands, within which individual pay will be determined by performance.

The first band runs from NQ to two years' post-qualification experience, with total compensation for the band stretching from £93,000 at the bottom to £114,000 for the best performers.

The US market has seen more dramatic changes. In June, Cravath Swaine & Moore confirmed its rates for first-year associates will now start at $190,000 (£144,000) and rise to $305,000 (£231,500) after five years.

In the US, other firms to have matched Cravath's payscale include Clifford Chance, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, Kirkland & Ellis, Ropes & Gray and Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom.