I'm a junior associate at a reputable mid-sized local firm (got called in August 2015), got offered $5,000 upon call and this increased to $5,500 in January. My peers are earning more or less the same as I am, save for those in Big 4 firms who earn $500 - $1,000 (A&G) more.

I personally feel that all the posters in this forum who purport be experts in "SG Grads in general" and "Overseas Grads in general" have gotten it all wrong. From experience, it's difficult to tell if you will be successful in practice based on the school you went to or grades you got alone. Practice is really very multi-faceted and as a junior associate you will realise, and this is doubly true if you are in a Big 4 firm, that most of your day consists of highly time-consuming menial activities (e.g. drafting chaser letters, document review for discovery, etc). Also, people are unreasonable - and that extends to the bosses, colleagues, clients, secretaries, trainees of the firm and sometimes what guarantees your survival as a lawyer in the firm is how you can balance the interaction and relationships between everyone in the firm. Also, the stress. Not everyone from a good university with good grades can deal with it - it all boils down to the level of resilience present in each individual.

By the way, there were trainees in my batch from NUS Law who didn't get retained as associates but people who were from lower-ranked universities who did. Of course there were NUS Law graduates who did as well but my point is, there isn't a set pattern that you can subscribe to and make general assertions about which is better than the other.

Humility, people. Also, hiring partners hate cocky arrogant people.