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City lawyers' average starting salaries have risen to over £60,000, it has emerged.

According to research by legal recruitment company Hughes-Castell, this is the highest level ever reached and reflects increasing demand for new talent.

It was also found that trainees are earning as much as £33,000 in their first year and £38,000 in their second year.

The research found that newly appointed solicitors in the top City firms are earning 16 per cent more than the same group 12 months ago, with some receiving incomes of as much as £64,000 a year.

"The only way many of these firms are continuing to keep their salaries so competitive in London is by artificially fixing their dollar/sterling exchange rate at significantly lower levels than the market – in effect paying their assistants significantly more in London than in New York," the report stated.

Furthermore, it found that demand for corporate restructuring, traditional insolvency and property litigation lawyers has gone up in the past five years while vacancies for commercial property lawyers have decreased.

TheLawyer.com recently reported that City firm, DLA Piper is increases salaries for newly-qualified staff for a second time in the past six months, taking them up to £63,000.

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