Lawyer Salary

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Havw meh haha so rare. Big4 probably

How abt baker mack

%Hello everyone. My nephew is looking to borrow money, approximately 50k, to fund his local education in law in Singapore. I have been browsing through these forums about studying law and working as one and it seems like the ROI for this degree in its initial years is uncertain with a long, bumpy road ahead.

Can I confirm this view of mine? Do you people in the industry recommend to go for the law degree in Singapore? 50k is not a small sum.

Thank you.


%Hey there,

I'm a law graduate from NUS, obtained a FCH and graduated July 2020. Completed TC with a boutique litigation firm that's an Asian Legal Business finalist/other awards in Benchmark Litigation/Chambers/Straits Times Survey on Singapore's best law firms, and got retained for a TC midway through my TC. I sat for and passed Part B of the bar exams in June 2021.

I applied for TCs in October 2019. Might have been a tad late, but I did apply for 3 out of the international firms. I got rejected by all of them. Maybe it might have something to do with my late application, or maybe the 'impression' that firms have of NUS graduates in general aren't too good. I can't give you a definite answer on that.

However, having a sense of friends who've interned at places like TSMP Law, they've heard partners make comments in passing about the purported 'high quality' of NUS graduates. This spurred many of my friends to want to stay in Singapore for as long as possible to seek out graduate roles because of the perceived non-discrimination against NUS grads vis-a-vis SMU or overseas grads.

I think it's not healthy to think of a law degree as a object with a 'ROI'. My family is pretty poor, we're not well-to-do, live in a oneroom rental flat in the North. But I'm eternally grateful to my toilet cleaner parents for giving me the uni experience notwithstanding that the total costs of my education did rise to the 50k figure thereabouts.

What's important is that your nephew truly has a passion for the law. Perhaps start out with doing legal internships at the various government ministries/private law firms. That can give him a taste of what legal practice is like. If your nephew is also someone keen on current affairs and public policy, I think law is a perfect degree to nurture those interests. Granted, one can do a degree in Political Science or Sociology at the local universities, but hey with a law degree you can effectively do similar jobs, if not more. I know that's what spurred me to do law in the first place.

I enjoyed my 4 years at NUS and will look back on that period as the best time of my life. I found the motivation to study, and yet found time to balance it out with keyboard warrioring on salary forums, lusting over female assocs i worked with, and attacking other SMU and overseas graduates to make up for my inferiority complex etc. I took interest in my subjects because of engaging tutors and how the modules spoke to my inner interests.

Don't let anyone tell your nephew what he is or isn't capable of. But tell him to follow his heart. I can't say I'm a success per se, and am still finding my feet and place in the legal industry here in Singapore. But I'll try to keep the flame that spurred me to do well in uni alive, and carry on that passion in practice. Hopefully I'll survive long enough.


I hope this answers your question with some personal experiences of my own.

If you can’t even get ROI on your degree how can you give any practical advice worth listening to. Whole another thing if you are a community lawyer though. Then kudos to you.

For the uncle considering lending money - if you want your ROI make him get into a US salary paying firm then garnish his salary lor

Intl firm ftw. Wait a few months can bao the 50k plus interest

Originally Posted by Unregistered

how to best switch across practice groups in a firm? am in disputes right now but concerned about my future exit options...

I had the same issue. I feel like it's hard to make an intra-office jump, and you'd need to apply out. Alternatively, if you are good friends with your boss (i.e. they like you), sit them down and be honest, that disputes is not your cup of tea, and you'd like their "blessing" to start applying for a change internally.

The longer you wait, the harder it gets. OFC, it's far easier to apply outwards and downwards (i.e. other firms or firms that are not the same prestige level).

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I enjoyed my 4 years at NUS and will look back on that period as the best time of my life. I found the motivation to study, and yet found time to balance it out with keyboard warrioring on salary forums, lusting over female assocs i worked with, and attacking other SMU and overseas graduates to make up for my inferiority complex etc. I took interest in my subjects because of engaging tutors and how the modules spoke to my inner interests.

No fair! NUS guys may got lust, but prof Tey tsun hang also lust! Prof steal our girls, we no choice havw to beo assocs!

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Intl firm ftw. Wait a few months can bao the 50k plus interest

wait long long, unpaid TC 6 months first. for high flyer retained after TC type, the boss-pity-you salary is 2k.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

wait long long, unpaid TC 6 months first. for high flyer retained after TC type, the boss-pity-you salary is 2k.

Lol that firm already no longer international la. Int firms trainee rate is not really "trainee" rate because they generally treat u as NQ from the get-go.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Lol that firm already no longer international la. Int firms trainee rate is not really "trainee" rate because they generally treat u as NQ from the get-go.

The intl firm in mbfc i heard dont pay nq rates for rlt leh

Big 4 firm in sg increased pay across the board and splashed out covid bonus. How will the other big 4 react?