Lawyer Salary

Hi

i would like to seek advice on the current law market situation as i have been offered a place in smu law.

I was told that its is very diff for fresh law grads nowsaday to secure their training contract upon graduation due to oversupply of foreign law graduates.

Also even lawyers are having difficulty moving around jobs.

Is it true that the law mkt now is very bad and prospect for lawyers is diminishing. would like to hear fr someone in this profession bef deciding whether to go for law cos after all is time, money and energy.

thks

it all depends on how well you think you will do. assuming you want to get into the big 4 type firms as a trainee. as a rough gauge (and assuming you have no connections):

top 20%: quite safe
20-40%: good chance, but may have to forsake some of the more competitive departments
40-70%: better have something that makes you stand out (e.g. moots, competitions, book prizes, stellar internship performance etc)
bottom 30%: limited chances, better hope one of the smaller firms take you

To the abv poster and anyone who wants to do law, why not consider an internship with a law firm? You would be able to meet lawyers in real life rather than posting on some anon forum. Most small firms are willing to take on interns but don't expect much pay or anything.

To the prospective law student, i think the overall message to you and your questions is pretty clear. If you cannot gather them and come to your conclusions you probably make a less than mediocre law student. Bear in mind that all posts are anonymous (like this) so give weight to them accordingly. Then again consider the risk and likelihood of someone or some group of people consciously trying to put on a rather consistent message that doesn't really seem to benefit them (unless they are your potential batchmates lol).

If you believe me, people who join law school wishing that they could become ace lawyer, elites and high incomers are going to sorely disappointed. Those who are not afraid to let your life get sucked away, looking for academic challenges, rigorous training of the mind are those will never regret picking law as a course of study.

Sadly lawyers don't contribute much to society anymore.
Would like to see more lawyers going into criminal or family law.
I guarantee you it's much more fulfilling than corporate law which btw, is slowly getting replace by AI. Good luck to all the lawyer wannabes

could you shed light on why is it more fulfilling? looking to do family law pro bono actually, but not sure if im up to it.

Don't do law unless you are 100% you want to be a lawyer for the next 10 years.

Go find out more about the actual job. Most have serious regrets after joining the profession, I urge you to forget the "glamor" or what your ah gong ah ma may tell you or you will be in for a rude shocker.

Many prospective law students and junior law students believes that they can avoid the immense competition because they are interested in family law and criminal law practice. The reality is far from that. Whatever your interest you still have to fight for the same training contract, and then a place in the law practice (junior lawyers less than certain exp years cannot start his own practice).

What the government didn't tell everyone is the business side of running as community law practice. I assumw that most people do a job to earn a decent pay to support themselves. The reality is there isnt thatuch PAYING CLIENTS in the family and criminal law sphere. Worse, you get clients who are credit risks and you end giving steep package discount despite huge amount time put in. You may not mind the extra timefor a noble cause but when it impacts on the profitablity of the business, the concern is real. Most of "better" work where clients actually can pay a reasonable sum in the community law are already taken by existing players. Many Chinatown firms do all sorts of legal work such as conveyancing to maintain profitability.

Now, as the new and coming guy, the law firm partner is unlikely to be willing to share this limited profit with you. As a trainee or associate, you are a significant cost to the firm because you don't bring in business. The end result? Many of these community law firms are not taking trainees or they don't retain trainees at aĺl. You will have to join a decent mid size firm with family or criminal litigation practice to survive because these firms have better diversification of profit sources. You will end up STILL facing intense competition for these places.

I apologise for the rant. I was once a disappointed guy who decided corporate world is better after all. Kudos to those who persist and found the way.

Many prospective law students and junior law students believes that they can avoid the immense competition because they are interested in family law and criminal law practice. The reality is far from that. Whatever your interest you still have to fight for the same training contract, and then a place in the law practice (junior lawyers less than certain exp years cannot start his own practice).

What the government didn't tell everyone is the business side of running as community law practice. I assumw that most people do a job to earn a decent pay to support themselves. The reality is there isnt thatuch PAYING CLIENTS in the family and criminal law sphere. Worse, you get clients who are credit risks and you end giving steep package discount despite huge amount time put in. You may not mind the extra timefor a noble cause but when it impacts on the profitablity of the business, the concern is real. Most of "better" work where clients actually can pay a reasonable sum in the community law are already taken by existing players. Many Chinatown firms do all sorts of legal work such as conveyancing to maintain profitability.

Now, as the new and coming guy, the law firm partner is unlikely to be willing to share this limited profit with you. As a trainee or associate, you are a significant cost to the firm because you don't bring in business. The end result? Many of these community law firms are not taking trainees or they don't retain trainees at aĺl. You will have to join a decent mid size firm with family or criminal litigation practice to survive because these firms have better diversification of profit sources. You will end up STILL facing intense competition for these places.

I apologise for the rant. I was once a disappointed guy who decided corporate world is better after all. Kudos to those who persist and found the way.

Working as in house in bank. 2 years experience, drawing 5K. Meeting benchmark?