Lawyer Salary

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Depends on where you move from?

Like if you're in a mid sized firm with normal office hours, fine, that's sustainable in the long run

But if you're in B4 and feel like dying everyday, and have to take a 20-40% pay cut to preserve your sanity, why not?

I see many postings for in house on LinkedIn everyday

I've graduated with a law degree from NUS last year and am currently drawing a monthly salary of $3,800 in my current firm. The amount of work that I do does not justify such a low pay. Should I leave and find employment elsewhere?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I've graduated with a law degree from NUS last year and am currently drawing a monthly salary of $3,800 in my current firm. The amount of work that I do does not justify such a low pay. Should I leave and find employment elsewhere?

Yes. Please do. The market will regulate itself.

If you are truly worth what you think you are (more than 3,800) than you will most definitely be able to find a position with your expected salary. I did.

But if you are unable to get an offer with your expected salary, then my suggestion would be some self-reflection.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

if you graduate from Melbourne law: I'd say work in Australia in a transactional practice first if you are able to. and if you can get into something more transferable like banking & finance at a mid or top tier, even better.

the toxic SG competitive culture from our education system here (esp NUS/SMU) leaks into practice - translating into work cultures at many local firms (esp the big 4) that aren't as healthy compared to Aus (at least that's what I hear). So I wouldn't recommend grinding your initial years here if you have the option to do so in Australia. you can always come back later as a (foreign registered lawyer) lateral or in-house.

as to your question specifically, the profession in Singapore (excluding foreign lawyers) isn't the most diverse. I think people still compare NUS and SMU graduates. Some people also think that Aus is trash in general. You get the gist.

If I may, I think the question of 'where do you wanna work?' should guide your decision-making.

Also, lateral opportunities from Australia to UK/HK/Dubai are really good (in addition to lateralling to international firms in Singapore.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Then this is a different proposition that you raise.
You do not need to sit for the LLM to sit for the NY Bar.
That is additional cost and a complete waste of time.
A NUS law degree is good enough to sit for the New York bar.
Whether you pass the NY Bar or not is a separate matter that boils down to aptitude.
Clearly the LLM from Columbia or NYU has no value to practice unless your first degree is really bad from a university rank beyond rank number 300 in the world that any reasonable American law firm will not recognize.

Please ignore this troll - most of the big White Shoe firms conduct OCI most definitely at NYU and (especially) Columbia.

You get a Summer Associate job (and a future associate's position) _before_ you get your NY Bar. The NY bar is a formality that the firm sponsors you for after they've already pre-selected you for a position there

Don't believe me? Go to LinkedIn and search for people in New York with job title "Legal Adviser (pending qualification)".

Ridiculous paper-chasing mentality with no real world experience just out to get a power trip by scaring off law students who don't know enough to call out your ********.

do looks play a part at interviews for B4?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

do looks play a part at interviews for B4?

Looks play a part in any industry and in any field. Do we do blind interviews.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Looks play a part in any industry and in any field. Do we do blind interviews.

Why is life so unfair? What happened to meritocracy?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Can anyone tell me about LawAsia? They are always posting ads for trainees on the law society website.

Someone replied on this before. See:

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Worked there before. Man is a bully. Got his lawyers to write his son's dissertation, and then called the police when the fact kena leaked to the university. Didn't pay salary on time.

Yeah, I heard the seccy there leaked the info, and blamed a lawyer for it.