$7.5K is low bro. In this day and age, if you don't start with at least $10K salary for a so-called elite course, you're considered mediocre. Except for medicine tho - suck it up too bad because public healthcare and all that. But doctors have very long runway to earn money.

I would say that lawyers are grossly underpaid in Singapore, even at the top/big local firms (which is around $7K to $7.5K also for newly qualifieds). Most of the revenue goes to partner profits. I think it can be distributed more equitably.

To answer your question - the market pays what it wants to. I'm referring to both salaries, and client fees.