The gloves are off in the war to attract the country’s top student talent. As commercial law firms retreat into the salary bunker through the downturn, barristers chambers are seizing the opportunity to stage a forward charge. After One Essex Court in the Temple announced last week that it was making offers to students of £60,000 a year for their two-year pupillage starting in October next year, a trend has emerged.

Essex Court Chambers is understood to be increasing its pupillage salary from £40,000 to £55,000 from October 2010 and Wilberforce Chambers is increasing pupils’ pay from 2011 by 20% from $40,000 to £48,000.

In a classic piece of commercial strategy, the chambers have upped spending to take advantage of the competition’s comparative weakness and increase their market share of the top legal talent. In contrast, the traditionally cash aggressive commercial law firms have been staging a hasty retreat over salaries with freezes and reductions becoming the norm. Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer was the first major firm to announce back in February that it was reversing its associate salary bands, with NQ salaries dropping from £66,000 to £59,000; many City firms followed suit and now firms in the regions have taken the City’s lead.

Even if the climate (with increasing litigation) favours chambers more than commercial law firms; you can’t help thinking that the chambers have got the jump on the firms here…