Originally Posted by Unregistered (Post 144752)

Im from UCL - are you going to bash me too

Originally Posted by Unregistered (Post 144758)

UCL >>> NUS/SMU

UCL is infinitely more impressive and renown than NUS to anyone outside of Singapore, regardless of difficulty of the course itself. And at the end of the day, that is what really matters - what employers and outsiders think of your degree.

NUS/SMU is on par with 3rd tier UK unis - think Nottingham, Bristol, Warwick, KCL, and the like.

2nd tier UK unis like UCL and LSE brutally mog NUS/SMU, no doubt about that.

Originally Posted by Unregistered (Post 144705)

I was in a similar boat. My partner is in the medical line too, and upon venturing into private practice (GP) for docs after serving the 5 years local bond, it's about 13-16k/month. Docs working in the Gov sector appear to be less handsomely paid in terms of monthly basic, but the bonuses (including sign-on bonus and other benefits like allowances) add up to a hefty amount, so total compensation for PP and G can be quite close, although i hear that things have changed for the worse for G docs. Nevertheless, hours still tend to be better in the G, for most practice areas.

That being said, local law firm salaries are a lot less than those of international law firms. After a number of years in practice, i am thinking this discrepancy may be due to hourly rates/size of deals/partners and type of work. Mid to large sized firms do have plenty of brand name clients, long hours in some firms, albeit seasonal, and fairly decent lawyers, just that clients seem to be sticky on the budget. Happy to hear anyone's thoughts on the above!

In fact, we prob know that if one were to work in a MC or US law firm as a mid level assoc (5-6 year local PQE scale/4 year international scale), the pay is likely to be (much) more than doctors in private, though longer hours.

Originally Posted by Unregistered (Post 144775)

A GP's hourly wage is way higher than a practising lawyer

Originally Posted by Unregistered (Post 144722)

I aspire to become a barrister because it is cool to fight in court. But my parents are old and have to sacrifice their retirement money to sponsor me to KCL. What should I do? I only want to go to KCL.

Originally Posted by Unregistered (Post 144788)

Come back and fight in court here lah. Always insatiable demand for crim/fam practitioners. Why must go so far away and spend so much money to fight?

Originally Posted by Unregistered (Post 144789)

not OP but i think it's safe to say anytime a specific university is mentioned here, especially KCL, someone is taking the piss.

Originally Posted by Unregistered (Post 144801)

When do law firms usually announce increments? Most of us have recently been bumped from NQ to 1Q, but my firm hasn't broached the topic of 1Q pay yet.

Originally Posted by Unregistered (Post 144806)

Pay bumps happen at the start of the year mate.

PQE is counted from year of call, not from month of call.