Clifford Chance is the latest firm to cut salaries for its newly-qualified (NQ) associates in London in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The firm will now offer its NQs a total compensation package of £94,500 including a bonus, down from last year's rate of £100,000 including a bonus, according to a spokesperson for the firm.

The move comes after the firm announced salary freezes in April as the firm looked to hedge itself against the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the market.

The firm is the latest of the elite U.K.-headquartered firms to have decided against increasing associate salaries in what is a marked turn away from the industry's usual annual NQ pay war.

The move is the latest financial measure to be adopted by CC since April, when the firm announced that it was deferring its partner distributions globally as well as freezing salary reviews and increases.

On Monday, fellow Magic Circle firm Allen & Overy said that it would be cutting its NQ salaries by 10% to £90,000 including a sign-on bonuses, in a move that reversed its decision from last year to bump NQ pay to £100,000.

Earlier in June, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, which sparked the U.K. pay war in 2019 to offer NQs a total salary package of £100,000, said earlier in June that it would be holding its NQ pay at the same rate as last year. Slaughter and May, meanwhile, cut its NQ salaries by £5,000 in May to £87,000.

A raft of top international firms have implemented other financial measures to limit their exposure to the coronavirus pandemic, which have included furloughing staff, delaying the payment of partner distributions and drawings, and freezing salary reviews.

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