Under-investment during the recession is fuelling demand for specialist skills, and decision makers are now discounting educational background and poor exam results in order to boost their team’s fee earning capacity. Top 200 UK law firms are tempting strong performers away from the regional firms with offers of 20-50% pay rises, regardless of educational background, according to data collected from nearly 2,000 survey respondents by Douglas Scott Legal Recruitment, in its 2015 Salary and Benefits Benchmarker.