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Junior lawyers are to revive the campaign for a minimum salary for trainees – with the help of the Law Society.

The regulatory minimum, of £18,590 per year for training contracts based in central London and £16,650 for those outside the capital, was abolished last year. Since then, employers have been required to pay only the national minimum wage of £6.31 an hour.

Max Harris, chair of the Society’s Junior Lawyers Division (JLD), told the division’s annual dinner on Saturday that the minimum trainee salary was one of four areas where the JLD would be focusing a lot of its attention this year.

Harris said that the law is a unique sector because many trainees have to begin repaying the cost of their LPC, which averages £11,500, from the start of their training contact.

‘The national minimum wage does not take these repayments into account. This causes great difficulties from a social mobility perspective, with individuals who are unable to rely on parenting support being stifled (at least in part) from entering the profession.’

The JLD is working with Chancery Lane with a view to a recommended minimum salary being issued in July. The recommendation would not be enforceable. Instead, it would provide a [...]