Lawyer Salary

Originally Posted by Unregistered

It’s not about financial security. If wages are stagnated according to OP, then a work around solution is to get married earlier to get the bto early. It’s a choice we have to make. If you’re going to eventually get married, pushing it earlier doesn’t make a difference. Unless you are not intending to get married, then whatever I say makes no sense to you ultimately.
It’s nothing to do with stakeholders in the legal industry. Just look at Malaysia, do you know how much junior associates fresh out of the bar are paid? Look also at our south East Asian neighbours...

Back when Goh Chok Tong was still PM, he aspired Singaporeans to Swiss standards of living, now I see we have to resort to comparing ourselves to third rate developing countries in SEA in order to give ourselves a pat on the back. All the while ignoring the fact that standards of living for junior lawyers has been declining while the cost of living are rising faster than our paychecks.

Well done, my fellow learned friends for setting the bar ever lower.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Back when Goh Chok Tong was still PM, he aspired Singaporeans to Swiss standards of living, now I see we have to resort to comparing ourselves to third rate developing countries in SEA in order to give ourselves a pat on the back. All the while ignoring the fact that standards of living for junior lawyers has been declining while the cost of living are rising faster than our paychecks.

Well done, my fellow learned friends for setting the bar ever lower.

I concur. Singapore is just another another polished good looking third world city in ASEAN. Despite it clean streets, polished furnishings, it is unbearable place to live in. The people there live in this “illusion of bubble” thinking it is an utopia in the world. Everything there looks like it is “working” when u look deeper, it is in fact same as the surrounding ASEAN countries.

Whatever statistics they published, the opposite reality is true on the ground. Singapore is the only country, i have seen publish so many statistics on state controlled media. The mass media is not a free entity and a government mouthpiece. There are not many jobs available and cost living is very high relative to wages. Slave wages, labor exploitation, lack of rights , authoritarian rule. Basically it is a third world place under disguise with first world looks. Getting out of Singapore with a overseas LLB and moving to a real first world country (UK) is the best choice i have ever made despite being a local born Singaporean.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Back when Goh Chok Tong was still PM, he aspired Singaporeans to Swiss standards of living, now I see we have to resort to comparing ourselves to third rate developing countries in SEA in order to give ourselves a pat on the back. All the while ignoring the fact that standards of living for junior lawyers has been declining while the cost of living are rising faster than our paychecks.

Well done, my fellow learned friends for setting the bar ever lower.

To my fellow forum outlookers, wake up your ideas. The reality is that it is a bad time to enter into the law profession, a bad time to get a partner and settle down, a bad time to live. No matter how hard you work, it is all but an "American Dream". So, if foreigners or foreign grads take your jobs, let it be. Don't hustle, don't bustle, as it is not worth sacrificing your mental health and time for a dream which will never come true. HDB bids are getting more difficult, costly and lengthy (more than 6 years for now).

So, be smart, you can never beat the flawed system. The future will never be us. We should just learn to survive first. So just sit back and don't rock the boat.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I concur. Singapore is just another another polished good looking third world city in ASEAN. Despite it clean streets, polished furnishings, it is unbearable place to live in. The people there live in this “illusion of bubble” thinking it is an utopia in the world. Everything there looks like it is “working” when u look deeper, it is in fact same as the surrounding ASEAN countries.

Whatever statistics they published, the opposite reality is true on the ground. Singapore is the only country, i have seen publish so many statistics on state controlled media. The mass media is not a free entity and a government mouthpiece. There are not many jobs available and cost living is very high relative to wages. Slave wages, labor exploitation, lack of rights , authoritarian rule. Basically it is a third world place under disguise with first world looks. Getting out of Singapore with a overseas LLB and moving to a real first world country (UK) is the best choice i have ever made despite being a local born Singaporean.

So is it all doom and gloom for SG's future outlook? As a IB student with a passion for law, should I read law locally or overseas in order to hedge against the former? I should qualify for NUS or SMU but at this stage I'm leaning towards Australia's G8 unis so I could work in Australia later. A relative who's a solicitor in Perth works 8-5 weekdays only and is able to earn enough to afford his own bungalow and another as an investment property in his early thirties. He came from a lower-middle class HDB-dwelling background so I don't think parental help factored in his success.

(Please don't suggest medicine as it requires a completely different skillset to what I have and I have neither the aptitude nor interest in it. Plus my NUS med friends seem to have their own difficulties with med.)

Originally Posted by Unregistered

So is it all doom and gloom for SG's future outlook? As a IB student with a passion for law, should I read law locally or overseas in order to hedge against the former? I should qualify for NUS or SMU but at this stage I'm leaning towards Australia's G8 unis so I could work in Australia later. A relative who's a solicitor in Perth works 8-5 weekdays only and is able to earn enough to afford his own bungalow and another as an investment property in his early thirties. He came from a lower-middle class HDB-dwelling background so I don't think parental help factored in his success.

(Please don't suggest medicine as it requires a completely different skillset to what I have and I have neither the aptitude nor interest in it. Plus my NUS med friends seem to have their own difficulties with med.)

If you stayed in Johor and worked for Fervent Chambers, you could certainly also afford a bungalow and servants with our salary. And work on the best cases.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

So is it all doom and gloom for SG's future outlook? As a IB student with a passion for law, should I read law locally or overseas in order to hedge against the former? I should qualify for NUS or SMU but at this stage I'm leaning towards Australia's G8 unis so I could work in Australia later. A relative who's a solicitor in Perth works 8-5 weekdays only and is able to earn enough to afford his own bungalow and another as an investment property in his early thirties. He came from a lower-middle class HDB-dwelling background so I don't think parental help factored in his success.

(Please don't suggest medicine as it requires a completely different skillset to what I have and I have neither the aptitude nor interest in it. Plus my NUS med friends seem to have their own difficulties with med.)

Nope, best advice is to not earn a degree and waste money. Just sit back, relax and do the things you love as life is short.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

So is it all doom and gloom for SG's future outlook? As a IB student with a passion for law, should I read law locally or overseas in order to hedge against the former? I should qualify for NUS or SMU but at this stage I'm leaning towards Australia's G8 unis so I could work in Australia later. A relative who's a solicitor in Perth works 8-5 weekdays only and is able to earn enough to afford his own bungalow and another as an investment property in his early thirties. He came from a lower-middle class HDB-dwelling background so I don't think parental help factored in his success.

(Please don't suggest medicine as it requires a completely different skillset to what I have and I have neither the aptitude nor interest in it. Plus my NUS med friends seem to have their own difficulties with med.)

I suggest getting the degree from UK.
Either Oxbridge or UCL/LSE. Nothing lower.
Thereafter, work in Australia, the hours are acceptable.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I suggest getting the degree from UK.
Either Oxbridge or UCL/LSE. Nothing lower.
Thereafter, work in Australia, the hours are acceptable.

Is it difficult to enter biglaw australia? I see many asian lawyers doing man in the street type practice areas for other asians, immigration, employment etc. How likely is it for an asian to be hired by KWM, Clayton Utz, Minters, Ashurst in australia

To counteract the doom and gloom in this thread - I am a lawyer with diagnosed depression and have been taking antidepressants since law school.

I would probably be the very person waxing on about how a legal career sucks, and indeed I did have that perspective in the past.

But I have met good persons in the industry, and also realised that much of what I was feeling was a result of my negative perspective. I was a miserable person, and mostly blaming my job for said misery.

Once I went to therapy and had my depression under control, I realised a legal career wasn't such a bad deal. It suits my character, and I do like my colleagues.

I just hope that you guys find some release eventually, whether by changing your job or your perspective. I know first hand how horrible it is to be constantly sad and miserable, and hope that you guys will all see better days. Know that there are still good people, good bosses and good work in the industry, and it is just a matter of finding them.

How to not feel depressed at work?