For many people, it’s hard to imagine how the term “pay rise” could evoke anything other than joy. 

That is unless you are a newly qualified lawyer at an elite corporate law firm in London. For the last few years, bright-eyed, bushy-tailed trainees at top firms across the city have been able to look forward to earning six-figure salaries by the time they’ve barely hit their mid-20s. And those salaries have exploded in recent years as elite law firms compete for the best new talent.