The Birchrose Salary Guide 2026: Legal Support

Salary benchmarks, benefits insight and market trends for legal support specialists and law firms.

The legal support market remains highly competitive, with law firms under continual pressure to attract and retain experienced PA and secretarial staff. Salary expectations have continued to rise, while benefits, flexibility and work-life balance are all playing more prominent roles in career move decisions.

The Birchrose Legal Support Salary & Benefits Guide 2026 draws on insights from legal support professionals working across a wide range of law firms in London, from boutiques to the UK’s Top 50. It explores salary trends, benefits and the evolving workplace expectations that are shaping legal support roles today.

UK legal support salary trends

Our guide includes salary ranges across Legal Secretary, Legal PA and Legal EA roles, providing a defined benchmark for the UK market, with the data evidencing structured progression from early-career through to senior level.

Our findings confirm that legal support salaries vary significantly depending on role, experience and firm type.

The survey response also highlights that financial reward alone is no longer sufficient. Todayu2019s legal support professionals are increasingly motivated by a combination of competitive pay, genuine flexibility and job security u2013 and firms overlooking these priorities are finding it harder to compete for the best candidates.

Progression, hybrid working and what really drives people

Flexibility has firmly established itself as the most valued benefit across all legal support roles, ahead of private healthcare, performance bonuses and professional development. Our guide explores how these preferences vary by experience level and role type, with clear distinctions emerging between the priorities of junior professionals and those at more senior levels.

We also explore the gap between preferred and actual working patterns, and what this divergence means for firms operating in a market where flexibility has become a key driver of attraction and retention.

Download your copy today

FREQUENTLY
ASKED
QUESTIONS

Where does your salary data come from?

Our data comes from three sources: ATLAS, a specialist legal market intelligence platform, surveys we conduct directly with legal professionals across London and the wider UK, and finally, our own established database. Meaning, the figures reflect current market reality, not aggregated data from other industries or outdated sources.

Who are your guides designed for?

We produce two separate guides – one for the Associate market and one for the legal support market – so whether you're a law firm benchmarking compensation packages or a legal professional weighing up a move, our salary guides are relevant to both our clients and candidates.

How should candidates use these guides?

If you’re considering a move or preparing for a salary review, our guides provide a clear, honest view of where your current salary sits in relation to the wider market. It goes beyond base pay to include bonus structures and the benefits that legal professionals genuinely prioritise.

How often are your salary guides updated?

We publish updated salary guides annually. The legal market moves quickly, so in addition to reading our guides we'd always recommend speaking to one of our consultants to gauge how current trends may be impacting your specific role or practice area in real time.

Do your guides cover the whole UK or just London?

Our 2026 Associate guide draws on responses from legal professionals across the UK, but with a greater focus on those working in London. Whilst our 2026 Legal Support guide is focused exclusively on the London market.

HOW SHOULD LAW FIRMS USE THESE GUIDES?

Use them to sense-check your current salary bandings, shape competitive and compelling offers, and gain a clear understanding of current candidate expectations, including bonus structures, hybrid working arrangements and wider benefits. Firms that benchmark regularly are better positioned to retain top talent and secure high-quality hires in a competitive market.