Lawyer Salary

Originally Posted by Unregistered

From my experience too, employers preferred nus grads to smu grad s

maybe it's the way the students r trained

i am an overseas grad but from what i could see from interactions

smu grads no doubt could apply the law but are often lack depth in understanding the fundamental philsosophy within each branch of law. say contract law - giving effect to parties intention.

in novel situations which require an exercise of innovation and creativity to craft arguments
nus grads who are trained much more vigor ways will be able to shine
also i see nus grads can relate a topic across various branches of law
and not just applying law to facts

Stick to mugging in the library, year 1 kid.

local grads don't get overseas grads experience.
that's why i'm proud to be an overseas grad

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Stick to mugging in the library, year 1 kid.

kid your head

I have a law degree from local u
i am a qualified person
i passed the bar
but i cannot find a post-training contract placement

should I take a para legal job and wait until
the market recovers ?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

local grads don't get overseas grads experience.
that's why i'm proud to be an overseas grad

Uh pub crawl and road trips on parents money doesn't count as overseas exp

Okay enough with the comparisons Smu/Nus/UK, sounds rather lame.

I'd like to hear from the guys with PQE on this. For corporate lawyers, what are the good exit opportunities? I'm thinking of exiting from a reputable local firm and I'm not sure if in-house is a good exit (in terms of career progression). Wonder if exiting law entirely is better.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I have a law degree from local u
i am a qualified person
i passed the bar
but i cannot find a post-training contract placement

should I take a para legal job and wait until
the market recovers ?

On the one hand, you should do whatever you need to do to survive. On the other hand, you are a lawyer and doing paralegal work may not be as beneficial (since it is a supporting role) and not that well paid. Hell you wont even be able to clock your PQE.

Honestly, I wont consider anything below SGD 3800 even if the times are bad. By succumbing to these practices, you are encouraging the public to think it is alright to hire freshly minted lawyers like us for a significantly lower salary. I would say, maybe try to look for in house roles temporarily or wait till the right offer comes by. (FYI the lawyer who replaced me in my previous law firm was unemployed for a year, so if you can then just wait it out.)

Ok
So what is the better advice for someone who cannot find a training contract / not retained as associate?

- find a para legal role

- find a non- law job

- find a ministry legal- related role such as policy, police, customs and border protection aka ica, manpower ministry,
justice ministry, home office ministry, trade and infrastructure ministry ?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Okay enough with the comparisons Smu/Nus/UK, sounds rather lame.

I'd like to hear from the guys with PQE on this. For corporate lawyers, what are the good exit opportunities? I'm thinking of exiting from a reputable local firm and I'm not sure if in-house is a good exit (in terms of career progression). Wonder if exiting law entirely is better.

What is the name of your local firm??

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Ok
So what is the better advice for someone who cannot find a training contract / not retained as associate?

- find a para legal role

- find a non- law job

- find a ministry legal- related role such as policy, police, customs and border protection aka ica, manpower ministry,
justice ministry, home office ministry, trade and infrastructure ministry ?

1. No Paralegal role, not worth your time. (money not enough)

2. Yes, think about switching careers, but would it hard (from my experience at least, my brain is not flexible enough to switch to other careers)

3. Yes, but find those ministry legal roles that require your law degree at least. E.g. there was a position for In house counsel at NEA recently. (not sure if still possible to apply now)

4. In House counsel role. You should also apply for those that mention "Legal Executive" usually companies may refer their in house counsel as legal executive. So its just a title change and technically you are not working as a paralegal.