Lawyer Salary

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Laughed out loud. Well said. These NUS/SMU guys don't realise that their financially and intellectually superior peers go to the very top universities overseas simply because their genetically superior parents had the foresight to educate and financially prepare for their children for an elite education at Oxbridge, LSE, Harvard, Stanford etc.

You just don't hear this in real life because everyone is too afraid to break your snowflake bubble less you commit suicide for shame of your inferior parental upbringing.

Not only NUS/SMU. All Asian universities for that matter, like HKU.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Not only NUS/SMU. All Asian universities for that matter, like HKU.

Yeah I’m local uni. But my partners all send their children overseas.
Not everyone is that smart to go Oxbridge.
If you’re lucky to be born smart, yeah Oxbridge.
But some partners also pay for their kids to go Manchester, Durham, Exeter, Leeds.
If you don’t know this means your circle is damn small and limited

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Yeah I’m local uni. But my partners all send their children overseas.
Not everyone is that smart to go Oxbridge.
If you’re lucky to be born smart, yeah Oxbridge.
But some partners also pay for their kids to go Manchester, Durham, Exeter, Leeds.
If you don’t know this means your circle is damn small and limited

This is why the local uni grads dont get retained while the delisted uni grads get retained??

Originally Posted by Unregistered

This is why the local uni grads dont get retained while the delisted uni grads get retained??

What to do? I wish my parents were lawyers also.

This chatroom has veered really far off from its original purpose. What was supposed to be a proper salary discussion forum has quickly degenerated into a mudslinging arena where tired, overworked juniors with inflated egos come to flaunt their command of English and boast about their minuscule achievements. I hope to redirect your minds to what really matters here - money.

I am a US law firm associate. I started at a Big4 law firm 7 years ago, moved to an MC outfit 3 years ago and just recently upgraded to a white shoe firm. I have no knowledge regarding remuneration packages in midsize or small firms as I have no experience there.

When I jumped over from a certain Big4 as a Year 5 associate (SA year 2, hint hint), I was taking S$10,200, including front loading (its an effing scam).
The jump to an MC resulted in a temporary 2 year "demotion" back to associate but with no PQE cut. I went in at S$16,300 per month (pre-bonus).
With the move to a US white shoe firm, I now receive the most recently posted Milbank rate. Taking a slight PQE cut from the move, my basic pay sits at slightly above S$29,000 per month (pre-bonus). My peers who weren't cut are taking about S$34,000.

Yearly increments in SG Big4 are approx S$1,000 per month, and stagnate when you hit Year 7. Yearly increments in MC firms are approx S$2,000 per month. Yearly increments in white shoe firms are approximately US$2,000 per month, though some firms may scam or pressure you into accepting what is euphmistically referred to as a mid-Atlantic rate (another scam), which sits above the MC scale but below the full Milbank-Cravath scale.

My advice to young associates is to always look forward. If you started in a small firm, attrition at the midsize firm level will result in openings one level up. Likewise, after moving up to a midsize firm and serving a few years, you'll be well poised for a Big 4 move, where you could join the fight for partnership or go international. Rinse and repeat - don't stop looking forward and progressing your career. Attrition one level up will always create openings for an upward move, and there will always be attrition no matter how good the pay.

Ignore the negativity which is being spewed out here, buckle down, do your best and don't stop looking forward.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Yeah I’m local uni. But my partners all send their children overseas.
Not everyone is that smart to go Oxbridge.
If you’re lucky to be born smart, yeah Oxbridge.
But some partners also pay for their kids to go Manchester, Durham, Exeter, Leeds.
If you don’t know this means your circle is damn small and limited

Based on my experience, most partners I've met don't wish for their children to become lawyers. They've got enough money to let their children waste their lives away and do whatever they want.

And all too often, the children themselves don't wish to be lawyers, having seen their workaholic parents slave their lives away.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

This is why the local uni grads dont get retained while the delisted uni grads get retained??

Yah...its no longer about how good or intellectually capable you are... in fact law is just about keeping their circles small and passing the buck to their children in future.

its called a family business

you all think because it involves law, then these firms dont operate like local sme is it

how naive can you get

Originally Posted by Unregistered

its called a family business

you all think because it involves law, then these firms dont operate like local sme is it

how naive can you get

Back in those days, was there a forum like that?
No. I didn’t know. I thought meritocracy

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Yah...its no longer about how good or intellectually capable you are... in fact law is just about keeping their circles small and passing the buck to their children in future.

Welcome to the real world!

Well I'm not sure how you even got into university with the level of thinking you display. Since when was societal status determined by your innate intelligence or ability beyond a superficial level?

Intergenerational barriers to mobility have been present from the second you were conceived. Richer/more educated parents have sex only when they are confident of bringing up a child in a comfortable environment where lower parents merely do it to fulfil their carnal desires. In school richer parents have always provided for more tuition and enrichment to qualify for DSA/IP programmes as well as in preparation for O and A levels. Entering the workforce richer parents again are again able to create opportunities for their children to succeed in their careers as well, mentor them as well as build an entire support network of colleagues, bosses and consultants to further said goal at the Sunday dinner.

Again, it wouldn't hurt to use a few brain cells when you're reading your next Straits Times article or whatever BS Ong Ye Kung prepares to spew about every school being a good school while extolling the benefits of the SG 'meritocracy'.