Lawyer Salary

Is law a respected profession?
I don’t want to get mental issues when I enter law school

I heard singapore law schools are pretty stressful
And only a handful can get first class

Should I enter overseas law schools instead?

I am quite fearful of stressing out and will breakdown easily
but I need reassurance of being a profession so that others can look up to me

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Is law a respected profession?
I don’t want to get mental issues when I enter law school

I heard singapore law schools are pretty stressful
And only a handful can get first class

Should I enter overseas law schools instead?

I am quite fearful of stressing out and will breakdown easily
but I need reassurance of being a profession so that others can look up to me

Is law a respected profession?

- Law is a prestigious and well respected profession in Singapore, alongside with doctors.

I don’t want to get mental issues when I enter law school.

- Then reconsider law school, not everyone can take the stress and workload of law schools, particularly NUS/SMU.

I heard singapore law schools are pretty stressful

- They definitely are.

And only a handful can get first class

- Yes, there is a limit to how many students can attain first class, 2.1, 2.2.

Should I enter overseas law schools instead?

- Depends on which law school? Due to the glut now, many law graduates from overseas are having difficulties securing a training contract.

I am quite fearful of stressing out and will breakdown easily
but I need reassurance of being a profession so that others can look up to me

- I'm sorry to say that law is probably not for you, because of the tremendous amount of stress. A profession that others can look up to you? I will certainly respect you if you are a social worker or teacher.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Is law a respected profession?

- Law is a prestigious and well respected profession in Singapore, alongside with doctors.

I don’t want to get mental issues when I enter law school.

- Then reconsider law school, not everyone can take the stress and workload of law schools, particularly NUS/SMU.

I heard singapore law schools are pretty stressful

- They definitely are.

And only a handful can get first class

- Yes, there is a limit to how many students can attain first class, 2.1, 2.2.

Should I enter overseas law schools instead?

- Depends on which law school? Due to the glut now, many law graduates from overseas are having difficulties securing a training contract.

I am quite fearful of stressing out and will breakdown easily
but I need reassurance of being a profession so that others can look up to me

- I'm sorry to say that law is probably not for you, because of the tremendous amount of stress. A profession that others can look up to you? I will certainly respect you if you are a social worker or teacher.

Very informative replies. For more details, see s://abovethelaw.com/2017/08/should-lawyers-have-mental-health-and-financial-examinations/

If it is so prestigious, why are law firms not paying their trainees for their Part B and training period? Even $2000 is pathetic compared to UK and HK trainees.

why is the glut issue not solved after 5 years?

why is the salary so low compared to doctors and overseas lawyers say in USA and HK and UK

why is the working hours in singapore practice so long?

why are there so many people facing stress and mental breakdown?

and what you call these issues for the prestigious industry?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

If it is so prestigious, why are law firms not paying their trainees for their Part B and training period? Even $2000 is pathetic compared to UK and HK trainees.

why is the glut issue not solved after 5 years?

why is the salary so low compared to doctors and overseas lawyers say in USA and HK and UK

why is the working hours in singapore practice so long?

why are there so many people facing stress and mental breakdown?

and what you call these issues for the prestigious industry?

Legal services is a tertiary sector industry.

The issues regarding salary that you raised are all a function of how developed the Singapore financial market is compared to HK, London or NY.

For e.g., what was the total volume of IPOs and funds raised in HK for 2016? Then compare it with SGX for 2016. Singapore doesn't hold a candle. Of course they can't pay lawyers US or HK rates here.

The issues regarding mental health is common in the legal sector world wide.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Legal services is a tertiary sector industry.

The issues regarding salary that you raised are all a function of how developed the Singapore financial market is compared to HK, London or NY.

For e.g., what was the total volume of IPOs and funds raised in HK for 2016? Then compare it with SGX for 2016. Singapore doesn't hold a candle. Of course they can't pay lawyers US or HK rates here.

The issues regarding mental health is common in the legal sector world wide.

Based on your logic, investment bankers and sales & traders should be getting depressed wages as well. They too fall into the tertiary services industry and face the same environmental constraints that you mentioned.

So why is it that they are earning New York benchmarked salaries (85k USD equivalent == 120k SGD, roughly 10k SGD per month base) in the lacklustre Asian market? What is the structural differential between banking and law that is prevalent here?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

If it is so prestigious, why are law firms not paying their trainees for their Part B and training period? Even $2000 is pathetic compared to UK and HK trainees.

why is the glut issue not solved after 5 years?
> There is no need to resolved it, there is always a high supply of lawyers. There are many people who perceived lawyers as prestigious. In the past, yes. If you are a partner in a magic circle law firm, yes. If you have only a law degree, nobody give a $hit.

why is the salary so low compared to doctors and overseas lawyers say in USA and HK and UK
> The supply is high, so there is no need to pay well. All law partners are interested in bottomline and if they can squeeze as much from you as possible, they will do it.

why is the working hours in singapore practice so long?
> In Singapore, there is a high expectation on responsiveness. All partners expects their junior to response, to response fast and immediately. Partners want to book as many clients as possible, while keeping a low bottomline. Hence, they are often overbooked and are loading the work on the same number of people.

why are there so many people facing stress and mental breakdown?
> This is because many people are unrealistic and not strong enough to simply walk away or say no. Too many people see it as a failure walk away or say no, hence, they just load up the stress on themselves until they can't take it anymore.

and what you call these issues for the prestigious industry?

The tricky part about lawyers are, you will eventually hit a plateau unless you are a partner or head of legal. And realistic looking, how many people in a batch is going to make it to partner level or head of legal? By the time you hit your 40s/50s, if you have not earn enough to start your own business, you will be at risk of being retrenched or replaced by younger lawyers who are more willing to work longer hours. This is one of the reasons why most lawyers decided to switch fields in their 30s/40s or even start their own business.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Based on your logic, investment bankers and sales & traders should be getting depressed wages as well. They too fall into the tertiary services industry and face the same environmental constraints that you mentioned.

So why is it that they are earning New York benchmarked salaries (85k USD equivalent == 120k SGD, roughly 10k SGD per month base) in the lacklustre Asian market? What is the structural differential between banking and law that is prevalent here?

Fee structure duh. I thought the answer would've been blindingly obvious.

IB charges fees on a combination of retainer and success fees, normally expressed as a % of the deal value.

Lawyers overwhelmingly charge on the billable hour. There's only so much you can bill because there's only so many hours you can work in a day.

You're comparing apples and oranges.

what is salary for baker / clifford chance vs big local firms?
and working hours?
I wondering which to apply to

Originally Posted by Unregistered

what is salary for baker / clifford chance vs big local firms?
and working hours?
I wondering which to apply to

Please read the previous chats. This has been previously discussed. Working hours for BM/CC hours are considerably better than big four. But again, very subjective as it is department and team specific.