Lawyer Salary

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Sure you can complain that this year's Part B is harder, as far as I am know, none of the 2024 NQs in my firm failed Part B the first time round as compared to yesteryears under the old syllabus.

The stringency of the exam wasn't raised for 2023, only 2024 onwards

Originally Posted by Unregistered

On the issue of fees, contrary to what some people are claiming, the $1,000 advocacy course is not a money grab. Didn’t it occur to you that the Part B course fees were $1,000 cheaper this year?

There were complaints last year about the fees, and with the changes to the exam (e.g. more MCQs which are machine-marked) isn't it at least somewhat reasonable to assume that the fees could have been changed to account for this? But the more important issue is that there was no transparency or information about how much and when we had to pay.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

The fees for these courses will be reimbursed by your respective firms once you finish your TC , if not, you should be querying why are you with a firm that does not do so in the first place.

Reimbursement is happening in 2026 for fees paid in mid and end 2024, so people are expected to cough up the $6.5-9.5k (depending on citizenship) in the meantime, of which $1k was required suddenly and immediately. People who couldn't pay within a few hours couldn't register, and this could delay their call under the new two-step call system (which their email actually did warn us about in a very considerate way!). You do realize that not everyone has access to this kind of money, especially on demand right?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Are you guys going to raise your pitchforks baying for your partners and clients' blood every time a spanner is thrown in the works?

How is this relevant to anything that was said? Are we raising pitchforks baying for blood or just expressing valid concerns?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

it costs around $300–$600 for both courses

This is pretty much the only valuable thing you said as it gives us a heads up (which is more than what SILE and LawSoc did), so thank you for that.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

You made the mistake of going into law school at such a bad timing. The heydays are already over many years ago.

I assume you probably entered law school in 2019 gauging from the timing of your Part B exams. You would have heard numerous warnings about the legal industry and yet you chose to enter.

You might also have heard that the part B exam will be revamped but yet you took the risk to enter.

So you have only yourself to blame. No one else.

ahh yes.. the colloquial "doing something with your eyes wide open" that we are all too familiar with

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I don’t understand what all the fuss is about. We all went through the same courses as you are required to. You will attend the other two courses once you start your Practice Training, just like all of us who took Part B before you (it costs around $300–$600 for both courses, if I recall correctly). Sure you can complain that this year's Part B is harder, as far as I am know, none of the 2024 NQs in my firm failed Part B the first time round as compared to yesteryears under the old syllabus.

On the issue of fees, contrary to what some people are claiming, the $1,000 advocacy course is not a money grab. Didn’t it occur to you that the Part B course fees were $1,000 cheaper this year? The fees for these courses will be reimbursed by your respective firms once you finish your TC , if not, you should be querying why are you with a firm that does not do so in the first place.


Sure, you could argue that this isn’t the ideal time to spring such a surprise, especially during a high-stress period. But guess what? This kind of thing happens all the time once you’re in practice. Are you guys going to raise your pitchforks baying for your partners and clients' blood every time a spanner is thrown in the works?

The part B course fees were well communicated. However, no notion of fees for the Advocacy Workshop were ever raised when they announced the decoupling. No mention of the fees for the additional two courses either. Effectively, candidates were not given the full picture of how much they needed to have on hand. Part of that picture was only disclosed to candidates during the break halfway through the examinations with zero notice. The way payment was to be made (by Paypal or Credit Card) for the Workshop rendered the exercise a Pay-to-Play. Candidates without the funds were left to watch as the workshop was booked up with no indication of when they could register for this requirement next.

This was an utter failure of the system.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Are you guys going to raise your pitchforks baying for your partners and clients' blood every time a spanner is thrown in the works?

Why not?

Come gather 'round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You'll be drenched to the bone
If your time to you is worth savin'
And you better start swimmin'
Or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I don’t understand what all the fuss is about. We all went through the same courses as you are required to. You will attend the other two courses once you start your Practice Training, just like all of us who took Part B before you (it costs around $300–$600 for both courses, if I recall correctly). Sure you can complain that this year's Part B is harder, as far as I am know, none of the 2024 NQs in my firm failed Part B the first time round as compared to yesteryears under the old syllabus.

On the issue of fees, contrary to what some people are claiming, the $1,000 advocacy course is not a money grab. Didn’t it occur to you that the Part B course fees were $1,000 cheaper this year? The fees for these courses will be reimbursed by your respective firms once you finish your TC , if not, you should be querying why are you with a firm that does not do so in the first place.


Sure, you could argue that this isn’t the ideal time to spring such a surprise, especially during a high-stress period. But guess what? This kind of thing happens all the time once you’re in practice. Are you guys going to raise your pitchforks baying for your partners and clients' blood every time a spanner is thrown in the works?

The part B course fees were well communicated. However, no notion of fees for the Advocacy Workshop were ever raised when they announced the decoupling. No mention of the fees for the additional two courses either. Effectively, candidates were not given the full picture of how much they needed to have on hand. Part of that picture was only disclosed to candidates during the break halfway through the examinations with zero notice. The way booking was attached payment (by immediate charge to Paypal or Credit Card) for the Workshop rendered the exercise a Pay-to-Play. Candidates without the funds were left to watch as the workshop was booked up with no indication of when they could register for this requirement next.

This was an utter failure of the system on all accounts.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Sure, you could argue that this isn’t the ideal time to spring such a surprise, especially during a high-stress period. But guess what? This kind of thing happens all the time once you’re in practice. Are you guys going to raise your pitchforks baying for your partners and clients' blood every time a spanner is thrown in the works?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Why not?

Come gather 'round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You'll be drenched to the bone
If your time to you is worth savin'
And you better start swimmin'
Or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'

ikr. OP should learn, in their own words, to "get over it la". what a boomer

its giving i suffered so u should suffer

ikr its giving washed up boomers who have nothing better to do on a sunday night inserting themselves into conversations when literally nobody asked

Originally Posted by Unregistered

ikr its giving washed up boomers who have nothing better to do on a sunday night inserting themselves into conversations when literally nobody asked

Not happy then don’t do lo… nobody forcing you also. Otherwise, it’s the rules you choose to play with and unless you have the means to change the system, isn’t this just pointless yapping?

Idealistic, but what do you have to back up your idealism

Originally Posted by Unregistered

To make matters worse there's more. Under the SILE Guidelines at [41]:



So that means beyond Part B ($5668) + Advocacy Workshop ($1057) there are two more courses that candidates have to pay for.

The price? Unknown.

Insane.

Not to be totally dismissive of your concerns, but the other 2 courses that you're referring to, are "Ethics in Practice" and "LP (Solicitors' Accounts) Rules" .

During my time they were like 1(ish?)-day workshops, conducted pretty much on par with the depth of those brainless CPD events that people attend to clock annual CPD points, except with some assessments. Don't think the format has changed significantly. They've been long-standing requirements for AAS admission for decades now.

I remember our TC firms paying for these courses and cost was totally not a concern. Couple of bucks at most. In fact, the attendance and/or fulfilment of these courses were the last things on my mind.

So it's not like these are 2 new courses that have been suddenly foisted as requirements on your batch of trainees, contrary to your characterisation.

That said, I think your concerns re the advocacy course, are valid.