Zomg I can't remember who I spoke to anymore... if you do know me irl please drop me a msg! I am so lonely here being the only Singaporean in my school ughhh. And ya haha Ivy League law schools do include Yale, I must have forgotten about that! But tbh a Yale grad could probably stumble ass backwards into a biglaw/mc firm in Sg and would never ever need to try for an Sg firm... if you're really from Yale then homg plz just do biglaw instead of Sg big4.

Anyway I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss Aussie grads! i'm sure many of them are really capable too. Sigh I guess the legal market in Sg is just too small to accept all of us lawyer wannabes... and unfortunately it's our (US) schools that are the ones which are cut out :'(. I just hope that the law minister exemption thing is a real thing for us.

It is not that Ivy League standard is bad, but simply because SG law relies mainly on English and Australian case law. The best example is our case law in corporate law, very often you see judges citing English or Australian cases, and sometimes even opting to adopt them as good law. The Companies Act in Singapore is also heavily influenced by the equivalent legislation in Australia, as English legislation is not considered very practical for Singapore since they had to follow EU guidelines.

Hey for the people here who are doing ur jds in america
Where did u go for undergrad and how much did u guys get for LSAT?
I myself am pretty interested in taking a JD in america!!

Just curious. Can anyone explain Jeffrey ong thoughts regarding taking money from allied tech escrow account? Also Like why didn't he run to Caribbean or faraway places but chose to reside in Malaysia? Where there is obvious extradition treaty.

And be unemployed after that?
Only take it if you are rich. And has nothing better to do.

I've no idea about Jeffrey, but I know for some professionals, despite the opulence they exude, they actually have crippling debts to pay just to keep up with the Joneses. Or maybe, it is part of a bigger conspiracy we are unaware of

Only do that if you want to practise in America. It is of no use in SG except for the 4 universities. Alternatively, do it, get employed in an international law firm in America and then transfer to SG side

Jeffrey ong scruples
 

Go leverage on your ivy education and fcck some white bishes la don't come to an anonymous forum to mope about your voluntary confinement. So when you return home you won't be a virgin when you get fccked by our gahmen.

my wife is singaporean and her greatest wish is to return to SG. My dream is to buy a shophouse at Chinatown in Singapore and a boutique firm in litigation.

Did any of you us candidates score above 170 for lsat

yes, i got above 170. i am selling my lsat books. if interested, please leave your email. can ship to SG

Is it better to start off with accepting an offer from a firm that’s small but the bosses are generous with guidance, or reject it for a potentially better offer? Any thoughts/advice on moving laterally from a small to medium firm, and medium to large firm?

NU guy here, yup I got above 170 too. I have a Singaporean friend in HLS who had a 175+. It's pretty much a prerequisite to get 170+ at least if you want a good shot at a T14 school, since our non-US college GPAs aren't factored in as part of the admissions process (thank goodness for that given my super low NUS gpa).

About the LSAT, unfortunately I've given all my books and materials away, else I'd be glad to give em to you. I highly recommend PowerScore books (textbooks can be borrowed from NLB, workbooks have to be bought), as well as 7Sage (it's an online prep resource with lotsa free videos) when you're studying!

Folks, can we have a separate thread for this please.

I read through the entire thread and realized that 99% of the people here really lack entrepreneurship. All of them are talking about salary and career progression while working for some firm. Their focus is what firm is good etc etc. Why not work for a few years and start your own firm? After all lawyers are 1 of the professions where you can start your own firm easily. You can pick 1 area of law and specialize in it. If you cannot handle some parts of the work, you can farm them out. Better than working like a dog for someone else building their dreams. After all, even magic circle firms started off being small firms. My plan is once I gain sufficient experience, I will buy a shop house in Chinatown and start a small firm, then slowly expand.

Anyone can provide updates for these numbers for this year? Don't shy leh.

CC: GBP100k/yr

Milbank: US$190k pa

What’s up with a firm that offers retention
but associates are placed on two different tracks m

Basically, one track is marked for Officer

The other is marked for WOSPEC

which firm is this?

Seems like almost every Singaporean in the past 5-8 years who has gone to KCL has achieved FCH.

If I know would have gone to KCL instead of NUS.

One of big fouR

UK FCH is like free candy lol. Nus used to cap it at 5% but now it's 10% so I guess not worth much either

Some big law firms do this, They have different tracks for different calibers of candidates.

It begins with the training contract phase, with 3 tracks

Track 1: Bright candidates with excellent academic results and extra-curricular achievements. Marked by the firm for retention to be groomed

Track 2: Better than average candidates with good academic results and extra-curricular achievements. In this track, some will be retained while others will not, depending on their performance in the firm (or whether boss likes them)

Track 3: Average candidates with average academic results. Not marked for retention at all, used as cheap labour and exploited to provide 'support'



And then for those who are retained by the firm:

Track 1: Groomed and marked to be future partners of the firm (I assume that poster was referring to this as OCS)

Track 2: Just being used as 'serfs' and can only promote to Senior Associate at highest after many years (And this should be WOSPEC)

What is the average increment for lawyers from NQ to 5Q in Singapore? Also, what is the norm as regards the amount of yearly bonuses that are paid out?

Sad to say everyone here is asking for answers but no one is willing to share. The only information you get is KCL sucks and NUS is full of themselves.

LOL so much for this being a salary forum... More like a bunch of unhappy lawyers whining about how much their lives suck.

Average increment ranges from SGD500 to SGD1,000 at NQ to 5Q.
Bonuses really depends on performance. Taking into consideration the 3 months front loaded bonus spread over 12 months, it can range from 3 months (nothing extra to 12 or even 18 months.

For magic circle firms like CC, increment of about SGD2,000 per year.

Would you rather take a front-loaded or non front-loaded salary in this case?

How much is the payscale in cavenagh law?
Is it similar to CC?

It’s the same as CC. Unlike other JVs like withers khattarwong, Morgan Lewis Stamford etc, CC and cavenagh are truly fully integrated and there is no difference being employed by either.

What is the average 2PQE SG lawyer earning - assuming the following holds true
(1) not in Big4/international firm; and
(2) not in corporate practice.

I saw that in the most recent graduate employment survey, SMU law grads had a median starting salary of 4500 and NUS law grads had a median starting salary of 5500. Why is there such a big difference? Is NUS truly better than SMU by such a stretch that SMU law grads are less able to get into the higher-paying firms?

Anywhere between 5000 - 6000.

For fake international firms (read mid tier mc wannabes) increment is around that range... but annual...

Also who pays 18 months bonus. Sign me up plz.

Not true, some are only getting $3,500-4,500
Called in aug 2017.

Why not quit law
 

A colleague proposed over a decidedly inebriated state that instead of getting retained after our TC to form a party for the next GE; pretty good ROI even if we just make MPs and draw $15000 a month using only 10% of the brain cells we would as lawyers anyway.

That way one could quit law but not quit helping people, which is possibly more than what former and potential future colleagues can lay claim to, heheh.

By Average Gross Monthly Salary (in brackets are the 75th-percentile salaries)
NUS Bachelor of Laws – $5,263 ($5,840)
SMU Law (4-years programme) Cum Laude and above – $5,256 ($6,000)
SMU Law (4-years programme) – $4,856 ($5,600)

By Permanent Employment Rate (in brackets are the median salaries)
NUS Bachelor of Laws – 92.6% ($5,500)
SMU Law (4-years programme) Cum Laude and above – 92.6% ($5,513)
SMU Law (4-years programme) – 90.8% ($4,500)


the stats for nus law are not broken up into honours classification. So it's not a right comparison to say $5500 vs $4500