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Two in five associates at big law firms in the UK plan to leave their jobs in the next five years because of stress and insufficient support from their employers in a trend that threatens to intensify a struggle to retain staff in an already competitive market.

More than half the associates surveyed by legal rankings company Chambers and Partners said their stress levels were “unmanageable”, with senior associates — lawyers who have five years or more of post-qualification experience — the most unhappy cohort.

Partners, whose pay has surged in recent years, were more positive, with 75 per cent stating they were happy in their role, according to the report shared with the Financial Times.

The drivers of dissatisfaction varied between regional and national UK law firms, where pay was the main issue for junior lawyers, and at US-founded firms, whose employees mostly cited work-life balance and a lack of career development tools for their unhappiness.

Chambers and Partners, which was acquired by US investment group Abry Partners in 2023, surveyed 1,680 lawyers working at 110 top law firms in the UK. The findings indicate that firms will have to work harder to retain their best employees after expansion by US firms in recent years sparked pay wars and high levels of staff turnover.

Salaries for newly qualified lawyers (NQs) have increased dramatically while partner pay for top performers can reach tens of millions of dollars. The Financial Times reported in June that mid-tier firms had boosted pay for their most junior lawyers as they sought to keep up with bigger rivals.

Pay increases for NQs and partners at the top have left senior associates frustrated, prompting some firms to seek to address this by freezing NQ pay to better reward more experienced associates.

“Lawyers at the beginning of their careers report high levels of job satisfaction, but as they gain experience and move to associate level, happiness levels dip considerably, representing a significant flight risk,” said Lisa Hart Shepherd, chief product and innovation officer at Chambers and Partners.

The survey found that there was only a small difference in the number of hours worked per week between the 55 per cent of associates who felt the stress of the job was unmanageable compared with those who did not.

The main divergence was tied to how much the associates felt they were supported by partners and whether they thought their employers were invested in their future. Only 41 per cent of associates were satisfied with their firm’s efforts to support their wellbeing, the report found.

While law firms are structured on the assumption that a “sizeable” proportion of junior recruits will leave before making partner, insufficient care for their wellbeing risks losing the ones they want to keep, said Laura Empson, a professor at Bayes Business School.

“If half the associates find it unmanageable, the key question is: which half? Are the firms losing really good associates who, with greater care from their partners, could have developed into really good partners themselves?”