Lawyer Salary

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Can confirm on your point on counsel dynamics in M&A. I work in an international bank advising on M&A and Big 4(D&N, WongP, R&T, A&G) Lawyers are ONLY retained as local counsel on deals, and typically only when either the sell or buy side is HQed in Singapore. In my time here I have not seen any of the local Big 4 being retained as international lead counsel on any significant cross border deals. There might be one or two small sub-200mn deals where there is an exception but by and large my bosses and our clients prefer the Freshfields, A&O or linklaters guys to take point on the most complicated transaction negotiations.

With this by no means am I implying that Big 4 lawyers are subpar, but the trend is perhaps more a reflection of the truly international capabilities and slick navigation of complex issues that commonly arise in cross border transactions that the Magic Circle offer a lot more confidence in. In fact, most of the MC firms frequently send their antitrust and regulatory control teams down to our office to train our bankers on regional developments and key authorities (esp with the uncertainty of Mofcom). I remember always being impressed (and still am) by how they seemingly effortlessly have a grip of the broader global regulatory environment yet still wielding an in depth understanding of technicalities at the country level.

This. If you're going to transact a large cross-border M&A, you'd want to make sure your legal counsel has a firm understanding of local antitrust laws/regulations etc.

Big 4 lawyers can be very impressive, but they are only impressive with regard to Singapore law. They simply do not have the reach of international law firms (nor the experience), but I believe most do not wish to operate as such either (they tend to partner with local firms in other jurisdictions (e.g. Indo, Myanmar, Malaysia etc).

s://.legalcheek.com/2017/11/revealed-law-firms-average-arrive-and-leave-the-office-times-2017-18/

anybody did not get retained after call this year?

any advice?

anyone had experience or know things about
suss jd course? it cost $160,000 plus
How long can I take to earn back this amount being a lawyer?
how much does a lawyer earn?

any comment about smu Jd course as well? how their student graduates prospects?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

anyone had experience or know things about
suss jd course? it cost $160,000 plus
How long can I take to earn back this amount being a lawyer?
how much does a lawyer earn?

any comment about smu Jd course as well? how their student graduates prospects?

SUSS course is meant for people who will go into community, family and criminal law. You cannot go in with the mindset that you will become a corporate lawyer. With this in mind, you can expect a starting salary of about 3.5-4K and a few hundreds in increments per year

Originally Posted by Unregistered

anyone had experience or know things about
suss jd course? it cost $160,000 plus
How long can I take to earn back this amount being a lawyer?
how much does a lawyer earn?

any comment about smu Jd course as well? how their student graduates prospects?

it takes 7 yrs to recoup suss jd tuition fees for Singaporeans. singaporeans jd total tuiton fees is just 38.6k. but foreigner is 160k.

say you are a 25 yr old paralegal earning 2.2k per mth with 3 mth bonus, ie 33k per annum.
you quit and embarked on full time jd for 4 yrs, incurring 38.6k tuition fee.
you would have lost income of 5*33k = 165k over 5 yrs (4 yrs law course + ~1yr to be admitted to bar, depending on supply of fresh grad then, training contract may not come with allowance)
so total loss is ~210k sgd (165k + 38K tuition)

at age 30, once you admitted to the bar, and earns a respectable 4.5k as a family or criminal lawyer.
so net gain is 4.5k - 2.2k (ur pay if you stayed as paralegal) = 2.3k per mth
you need around 90mths or 7 years to break even to cover that 210k loss.

at sgd 160k it is not worth it, but at sgd 38k tuition it is.

smu jd is too pricey.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

it takes 7 yrs to recoup suss jd tuition fees for Singaporeans. singaporeans jd total tuiton fees is just 38.6k. but foreigner is 160k.

say you are a 25 yr old paralegal earning 2.2k per mth with 3 mth bonus, ie 33k per annum.
you quit and embarked on full time jd for 4 yrs, incurring 38.6k tuition fee.
you would have lost income of 5*33k = 165k over 5 yrs (4 yrs law course + ~1yr to be admitted to bar, depending on supply of fresh grad then, training contract may not come with allowance)
so total loss is ~210k sgd (165k + 38K tuition)

at age 30, once you admitted to the bar, and earns a respectable 4.5k as a family or criminal lawyer.
so net gain is 4.5k - 2.2k (ur pay if you stayed as paralegal) = 2.3k per mth
you need around 90mths or 7 years to break even to cover that 210k loss.

at sgd 160k it is not worth it, but at sgd 38k tuition it is.

smu jd is too pricey.

even tho this is not applicable to me, i like your analysis haha.. sounds sound.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

SUSS course is meant for people who will go into community, family and criminal law. You cannot go in with the mindset that you will become a corporate lawyer. With this in mind, you can expect a starting salary of about 3.5-4K and a few hundreds in increments per year

HOW REALISTIC can I make back this amount?

so If I to earn lots of money fast, I should do smu jd course?

they are more into business law right? but $71 thousands how long I need earn back?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

it takes 7 yrs to recoup suss jd tuition fees for Singaporeans. singaporeans jd total tuiton fees is just 38.6k. but foreigner is 160k.

say you are a 25 yr old paralegal earning 2.2k per mth with 3 mth bonus, ie 33k per annum.
you quit and embarked on full time jd for 4 yrs, incurring 38.6k tuition fee.
you would have lost income of 5*33k = 165k over 5 yrs (4 yrs law course + ~1yr to be admitted to bar, depending on supply of fresh grad then, training contract may not come with allowance)
so total loss is ~210k sgd (165k + 38K tuition)

at age 30, once you admitted to the bar, and earns a respectable 4.5k as a family or criminal lawyer.
so net gain is 4.5k - 2.2k (ur pay if you stayed as paralegal) = 2.3k per mth
you need around 90mths or 7 years to break even to cover that 210k loss.

at sgd 160k it is not worth it, but at sgd 38k tuition it is.

smu jd is too pricey.

i checked, I received tuition grant before for my first degree so I have to pay full fare for SUSS jd.

I am close to 40s nowbut l earn quite littlee, So thought be lawyercan earn more money.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

i checked, I received tuition grant before for my first degree so I have to pay full fare for SUSS jd.

I am close to 40s nowbut l earn quite littlee, So thought be lawyercan earn more money.

Unfortunately when you turn 45, things will get worse. It is generally quite difficult for a mid forties to pull all nighters and endure sleep deprivation that may be required of associate. Not to mention age discrimination by employers.

Im approaching my thirties and i definitely can feel that age has taken a toll.

But you missed the boat 15-20 years ago when law was hot.