Originally Posted by Unregistered

Just sharing some musings here. Sorry if they appear random and unsystematic.

(1) Salaries

My personal knowledge extends as far as years 1-7 in a Big4 (I left somewhere midway through that journey) and years 1-6 in the Singapore office of an MC (where I am currently working).

Big 4 (The one which takes up several floors of a building where rental was secured cheaply during a crisis. Correct as of 2016). Figures include front load, exclude measly year end bonus remaining after deducting front load.

NQ: $5.5k/m
Year 2: $6.4k/m
Year 3: $7.6k/m
Year 4 (SA1): $9k/m
Year 5 (SA2): $10.3k/m
Year 6 (SA3): $11.3k/m
Year 7 (Consideration Year): $12.5k/m

MC (Can't reveal too much about which one it is.)

NQ (Year 3 SG scale): $12k
Year 1 (SA1 SG scale): $14k
Year 2 (SA2 SG scale): $16k
Year 3 (SA3 SG scale): $18k
Year 4 (Consideration year SG scale): $20k
Increments of approx $2k/m every year until Year 8 UK scale, then stagnates until you make the move to Counsel or Junior Partner.

No idea about mid tiers and boutiques, as I've got no experience there. I hope the above helps!

(2) Decline

Someone wrote here that 1-2 of the Big 4s are in decline. That's only 25% to half true. The truth is that they are ALL in decline.

- Retention rates have fallen from almost 100% to 60-70% on average.
- One or two Big4s have made equity calls in the past two years.
- Insane downward fee pressure. IPOs (prospectus et al) are being quoted at just over $10K when the same work used to fetch easily north of $200K. Race to the bottom.
- Foreign firms have been successfully eating away a large share of the erstwhile monopolized corporate/banking/finance law pie.
- Associates leaving in droves. I was an SA at a Big4 earlier this year when I saw a mass exodus of 13 associates from a certain department on the 24th floor. Many will know which firm and which Dept I'm talking about. The NQ's, who were originally given the windowless, newly created sad rooms were all upgraded to window seats.
- Local law firms have started unofficially retrenching people. It's a dirty tactic called "counselling out" the unwanted personnel. It essentially involves placing a person into cold storage (low quality, non billable work, negligible bonuses, ostracision etc). Eventually, if all else fails, the target is told in no uncertain terms to resign. Iron rice bowl in a Big4? Urban legend. Myth. Lie.
- Local law firm partners have this delusional mantra about how the UK firms are undercutting them in order to gain market share, how this is loss-making and unsustainable and how the UK law firms will all eventually be forced to exit, and when that happens, all the greedy Singaporean associates who picked the instant gratification of higher starting paychecks will weep and regret. Having seen the insane workflow and healthy fee quotes of a MC's Singapore office, I can honestly declare that nothing could be further from the truth.

Our Big4 law firms were pretty much finished when the QFLP scheme was launched. The same thing that happened to HK Biglaw (decline of local giants caused by rise of international behemoths) is now happening in SG. I suspect the legal scene in Singapore will look very different in 20 years' time.