A strike by researchers from law firm directory Legal 500 is set to continue into a third week, with no resolution to the pay dispute in sight.

Around 60 staff who carry out interviews with law firms who want to be included in the rankings have been on strike for two weeks.

The researchers, senior researchers and deputy editors were offered a 3.4% pay rise but are demanding a flat £2,000 increase to ensure that the lowest-paid workers receive a bigger jump.

Striking workers, who are members of the Unite union, have been on pickets outside the Legal 500 headquarters on Fleet Street. They say they have taken on larger allocations and more interviews, handling more than 60,000 law firm submissions every year.

A representative for the group told the Gazette: ‘There has been a creeping extra workload at a time when we are told how successful the company is, but we don’t see any of that.

‘We are the ones who build that relationship with law firms and without us there is nothing to sell. We definitely feel under-appreciated as a department.’

It is understood that the starting salary for a Legal 500 researcher is £30,000, deputy editors are on £37,000.

This time of year would normally feature interviews with firms aiming to appear on the European, Middle East and Asia rankings.

Last week, a spokesperson for Legal 500 said: ‘We respect the right of our employees to take lawful industrial action. We have engaged constructively with Unite throughout this process and remain committed to ongoing dialogue.

‘Our priority is to support our employees, maintain service for our customers and stakeholders, and work towards a constructive resolution.

‘We do not intend to comment further on the details of ongoing discussions at this time.’

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